Research Fellow in Structural Mass Spectrometry

Location: Leeds - Main Campus

Contract type: Fixed Term (12 months to complete specific time limited work)

Are you an ambitious researcher looking for your next challenge? Do you have an established background in native mass spectrometry or HDX-MS? Do you want to further your career in one of the UKs leading research intensive Universities?

In this project, funded by a BBSRC Pioneer award, you will develop new mass spectrometry tools based on native MS and hydrogen/deuterium exchange (HDX) to elucidate structure-function relationships of oligonucleotides (OGN). Short DNA and RNA sequences can provide interaction motifs for proteins and antibody-like high-affinity binding (aptamers), but they can also be dynamic and partly unstructured. Recently there has been a surge of interest in OGNs and their derivatives for potential use as drugs and vaccines, but also as targets of pharmaceutical intervention. Currently our insights and toolkit are limited: many sequences are either too small for cryo-EM or too dynamic to easily yield x-ray structures.

Structural MS methods are well established for protein conformation and interactions but lacking for OGNs: here you will develop native MS, native top-down fragmentation, ion mobility and HDX-MS together with limited digestion and LC-MS approaches to pioneer applications to questions of higher-order structure (folding) and deliver exceptional insights into conformational dynamics and lipid and ligand interactions. Do you have a background in native MS and/or HDX-MS? Then this exciting project could be for you, as a pioneer developing new tools for the study of dynamic oligonucleotide structures of biological interest, in collaboration with colleagues at Leeds and Bristol.

Please note: If you are not a British or Irish citizen, you will require permission to work in the UK. This will normally be in the form of a visa but, if you are an EEA/Swiss citizen, this may be your status under the EU Settlement Scheme.

Please note that this post may be suitable for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker visa route but first-time applicants might need to qualify for salary concessions. For more information, please visit www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa

For research and academic posts, we will consider eligibility under the Global Talent visa. For more information, please visit www.gov.uk/global-talent

What we offer in return

• 26 days holiday plus approx.16 Bank Holidays/days that the University is closed by custom (including Christmas) – That’s 42 days a year!
• Generous pension scheme plus life assurance– the University contributes 14.5% of salary
• Health and Wellbeing: Discounted staff membership options at The Edge, our state-of-the-art Campus gym, with a pool, sauna, climbing wall, cycle circuit, and sports halls.
• Personal Development: Access to courses run by our Organisational Development & Professional Learning team.
• Access to on-site childcare, shopping discounts and travel schemes are also available.

And much more!  

To explore the post further or for any queries you may have, please contact:

Professor Frank Sobott, Chair in Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry

Email: f.sobott@leeds.ac.uk

Advert information