PhD /Postdoc in In Situ Structural Biology by Cryo-ET

Organisation/Company: Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine

Research Field: Computer science

Researcher Profile: Recognised Researcher (R2), First Stage Researcher (R1)

Country: Germany

Application Deadline: 17 Apr 2025 - 23:00 (UTC)

Type of Contract: To be defined

Job Status: Full-time

Hours Per Week: To be defined

Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in the Helmholtz Association is an international biomedical research center dedicated to understanding the molecular mechanisms of health and disease with the goal to devise new diagnostics and medicines. The MDC is a member of the Helmholtz Association, Germany's largest scientific organization, and offers an engaging research environment with cutting-edge research infrastructure.

The Kudryashev Group at the MDC specializes in understanding structural and molecular mechanisms of membrane proteins and their complexes. Using cryo-EM and integrative structural biology approaches, the group investigates how membrane proteins function in their native environments: membranes or cells. Furthermore, we develop computational tools to streamline data processing to make it faster and at higher resolution.

Project Description

This is a broad call for a PhD student / Postdoctoral Researcher interested in structural biology, cryo-EM, DNNs, membrane proteins, and drug discovery. A researcher with a technical background would develop or incorporate deep neural networks into the workflows for the structural analysis of macromolecules from cryo-ET data. A researcher with interest in the structure and function of membrane proteins will be offered several projects with highly medically important membrane proteins with an aim to understand their functions and potentially develop interacting partners.

Your profile

• Passion for data, structural biology research, transmembrane signaling and/or method development
• For a postdoc: PhD in structural biology, biochemistry, biophysics, computational sciences, or related. For a PhD student, a relevant master's degree.
• For the PhD student, knowledge of cryo-EM / structural biology techniques will be an advantage.
• Knowledge of coding or scripting tools is an advantage.
• An international working environment in an interdisciplinary group, working language is English.
• Salary remuneration in accordance with the collective agreement for the federal public service (TVöD-Bund), including additional company pension schemes.
• Opportunities to attend group retreats and international workshops, and conferences.

Furthermore:

• Living in the amazing city of Berlin
• Flexible working hours and childcare support
• Onboarding support by the MDC Welcome & Family Office, free German classes, career mentoring
• An idyllic green campus Buch, which is accessible by bicycle, public transport or car
• Additional health benefits such as flu vaccination, eye test, ergonomics advice at the workplace
• Subsidy for the job ticket as well as discounts in the campus canteen, free use of Nextbike from the Buch S-Bahn station to the campus and a lot of other perks

The initial contract for a postdoc will be for 2 years, for a PhD student – 3 years, in both cases with an opportunity for extensions.

Starting date: 2025 or later, flexible.