Postdoc position in the structural biology of post-meiotic chromatin

The mammalian genome undergoes a dramatic compaction and reorganization after meiosis that involves the nearly genome-wide eviction of histones and their replacement by transition proteins and protamines. Despite its crucial importance for the mammalian life cycle, post-meiotic genome reorganization remains poorly understood. This project aims at the detailed molecular and structural characterization of the post-meiotic transitional states that occur as nucleosomes are transformed into nucleoproteins.

The postdoctoral researcher will use a biophysical and structural approach to study the transitional states that appear in post-meiotic haploid cells (See Barral et al., Mol Cell 2017 66:89-101). The work will include purifying endogenous macromolecular complexes from mammalian cells as well as reconstituting complexes using recombinantly expressed proteins, and subsequently using this material for biophysical analyses and for low- and high-resolution 3D structure determination, including crystallography and cryo-EM. The research will be carried out in the laboratory of Carlo Petosa at the IBS in close collaboration with the laboratory of Saadi Khochbin at the Institute for Advanced Biosciences.

Candidates should have a PhD in Biochemistry, Structural Biology or related discipline, or should expect to receive such a degree in the near future. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in biochemistry, protein purification and molecular biology and be experienced in either X-ray crystallography or cryo-EM.

Interested candidates should submit a detailed CV (including contact details for references) and a letter of motivation via the web link provided.