The UCL Department of Biochemical Engineering is participating in a collaborative research programme for the Engineering of enzymes with improved stability and substrate specificity by directed evolution. UCL Biochemical Engineering has invested £30 million in state-of-the-art facilities and equipment in recent years, including facilities for synthetic biology and biophysical analysis.
The Postdoctoral research will seek to develop variants of enzymes that are sufficiently stable and specific for applications in therapeutic RNA synthesis. The project will establish high-throughput screens for two key enzymes, and generate enzyme variant libraries that are optimised using structure and sequence information. The project would suit a candidate with multidisciplinary experience in molecular biology, biochemistry, enzyme engineering or enzymology.
Postdoctoral researchers are encouraged to attend specialist courses and UCL’s many staff development courses. The international reputation of the programme leaders, the status of UCL as a top UK university, and the direct collaboration with an industry partner in this project, mean that successful research staff can expect to move on to leading positions.
The candidate will have a PhD in molecular biology, biochemistry, biotechnology or related fields, with relevance to enzyme engineering, or synthetic biology, and an interest in developing commercialisable technologies, including robust enzymes for RNA synthesis.
The position is for two years, and the salary will be dependant on experience.
Applicants should send a full CV together with letter of application quoting UCLFAPD/15 to:
Prof Paul Dalby, Dept of Biochemical Engineering, University College London, Gordon Street, London, WC1H 0AH, UK or via email to p.dalbyATucl.ac.uk (Web:
www.ucl.ac.uk/biochemeng).