Postdoctoral Researcher in Protein Innovation and Evolvability at the University of Tucson
A postdoc position is available to work with Joanna Masel (http://eebweb.arizona.edu/faculty/masel) at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The Masel group’s main research interests are in robustness and evolvability, using a mixture of analytical theory, bioinformatic and simulation approaches.
The postholder will do primarily bioinformatic work, but opportunities for related, more theoretical projects and/or experimental collaborations also exist.
The postdoc will investigate the origin of novelty at the protein-sequence level. The conventional view is that new proteins evolve from old proteins via gene duplication and divergence. However, this poses a chicken-and-egg problem, implying an ancient “big bang” of protein creation. This project focuses instead on the ongoing de novo evolution of protein-coding genes from previously non-coding sequences. The postdoc will investigate both case studies of this phenomena, and computational predictors of biochemical properties that might facilitate such conversions over evolutionary timescales. Such predictors will be used to test concrete hypotheses that have arisen from theories of evolvability.
Excellent computer programming skills are strongly preferred, ideally with bioinformatics / genomics experience. Strong candidates who come from a more experimental background within evolutionary biology and who now wish to retrain as bioinformaticians will also be considered. Experience with (or at least prior interest in) evolutionary biology, protein structure and folding, statistics and other quantitative approaches are all advantages.
A start date of August 2013 is preferred but negotiable, and the position is renewable with funding secured for three years.
Contact Joanna Masel at masel@u.arizona.edu for more information or to apply.