Are you an ambitious researcher looking for your next challenge? Do you have an established background in structural molecular biology? Do you want to further your career in one of the UKs leading research-intensive Universities?

 We are looking for a highly motivated postdoctoral research fellow to join a team of researchers investigating the structural basis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, an inherited heart disease that affects more than 1 in 500 people. Most mutations resulting in disease are found in either β-cardiac myosin heavy chain or cardiac myosin-binding protein-C (cMyBP-C) yet the link between mutation and disease outcome is poorly characterised. By use of an integrative structural biology approach this research project will unravel structural-functional relationships between β-cardiac myosin and cMyBP-C and the impact of disease mutation on those relationships. The project will use a combination of electron microscopy (negative-stain and cryo), structural mass spectrometry, biochemistry, biophysics, molecular modelling and cell biology methods.

 You should have a PhD (or be close to completion) in Biology, Biochemistry, Biophysics or a related discipline. You should have experience in the analysis of protein structure, dynamics and protein-protein interactions using either structural mass spectrometry methods (e.g. native mass spectrometry, chemical crosslinking, covalent footprinting and/or hydrogen-deuterium exchange), and/or cryo-electron microscopy, and complementary biophysical methods (e.g. circular dichroism, SDS-PAGE). You should also have experience in protein production from bacterial and, insect or/and mammalian cells.

 You will be based in the laboratory of Dr Charlie Scarff (BHF Intermediate Fellow) and will work closely with collaborators at Leeds (Dr James Ault, Dr Sarah Harris and Prof. Michelle Peckham), across the UK and internationally (Prof. Howard White, EVMS and Prof. Donald Winkelmann, Rutgers). You will join the vibrant Astbury Centre community and benefit from the world-leading facilities we have in the Astbury Biostructure Laboratory (two Titan Krios microscopes) and Faculty of Biological Sciences (dedicated HDX-MS system, UHMR Q-Exactive and Orbitrap Exploris).

 Doctor Charlie Scarff

 BHF Jacqueline Murray Coomber Fellow, Email: c.a.scarff@leeds.ac.uk