Protein Crystallography PhD Studentships King’s College London (KCL) and Imperial College (IC) have created a new joint Centre, funded by MRC and Asthma UK, to advance understanding of allergic mechanisms of asthma (www.asthma-allergy.ac.uk)
Applications are now invited for 7 PhD studentships (1 plus 3-yr) to start in October 2007. In total, 20 projects are on offer (see www.asthma-allergy.ac.uk), of which 5 are directly based around protein crystallography: 1) X-ray crystallographic studies and knowledge-based drug design of GSNOR inhibitors. 2) IgE receptor CD23 as a target for therapeutic intervention in allergic disease. 3) T cell receptor structure and affinity in antigen specific Th2 responses. 4) Biophysical and functional characterisation of chemokines expressed in human lung. 5) Crystallographic studies of interleukin-17E and its receptor. Students will spend the first year taking a full-time MSc in Immunology at KCL or IC, obtaining a foundation in cellular, molecular and clinical immunology, including a 3-month laboratory-based mini-research project within the Centre. In year two, the students will embark upon a full-time PhD project jointly supervised by Dr. Andrew Beavil and Prof. Brian Sutton and physically based in the Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics at King's College London. The ideal candidate should have a solid undergraduate background in protein biochemistry and/or biophysics. Experience in recombinant protein expression and purification, protein crystallization, structure determination and molecular modelling would be advantageous. Facilities available include a protein crystallization laboratory fully-equipped for high-throughput protein crystallography, access to synchrotron radiation sources, graphical workstations for model building and molecular modelling, E.coli, Pichia pastoris, Baculovirus and mammalian expression systems, FPLC purification, state-of-the-art equipment for time-resolved laser spectroscopy and imaging, Circular Dichroism sprectroscopy, analytical ultracentrifugation, BIAcore equipment for kinetics measurements, static and dynamic light-scattering and a large selection of high-end microscopes including FRET/FLIM and 4-Pi super-resolution confocal microscopes. Please feel free to contact Dr. Andrew Beavil ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) with informal questions. The studentships are open to UK and EU residents only. Stipend is at standard MRC rate. Home/EU status students only are eligible and applicants should have or expect to get an upper second or first class degree (or equivalent) in any area of biological or physical sciences. To apply, please send a full CV with the names of two referees and a statement on why you would like apply to our 4-year PhD programme to Professor Tak H Lee at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel + 44 (0)20 7188 1943 fax + 44 (0)20 7403 8640 Closing date is Friday 19th January 2007. Equality of opportunity is College policy --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Andrew J. Beavil, Phone: (+44) (0)20 7848 8064 (Asthma UK funded Senior Lecturer in Asthma) Fax : (+44) (0)20 7848 6410 MRC & Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma King's College London, The Randall Centre, New Hunt's House, Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Guy's Campus, London Bridge, London. SE1 1UL ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
