We are seeking a postdoctoral fellow to join the Das laboratory in the Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA. Our lab investigates the structure and mechanism of action of bacterial effectors and their complexes with host targets with an emphasis on deubiquitinating and ubiquitin ligating enzymes. These effectors are used by intracellular pathogens to manipulate host ubiquitin signaling, often employing radically different biochemical mechanism than observed in eukaryotic organisms. A striking example is the E1,E2-independent ubiquitination of host proteins by the SdeA ligase effector of Legionella pneumophila.  See the following links to publications in this area:

1. http://www.pnas.org/content/112/49/15090.long

2. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature17657

3. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.biochem.7b00664

This position offers a significant opportunity to develop academic career of a really motivated Ph.D scholar by working at the interface between two labs, our lab in the Chemistry Department (X-ray crystallography and enzyme mechanism) and the Luo Lab in the Biology Department here at Purdue, the latter is a world-class lab in Legionella effector biology (http://bilbo.bio.purdue.edu/luolab/). Collaboration between our labs allows development of structural insights in the context of the relevant biology.  Applicants should hold a Ph.D. degree in relevant areas of chemistry, biochemistry, or biophysics as well as have significant experience in x-ray crystallography. This project also involves cryo-EM studies (in collaboration with Wen Jiang at Purdue) on protein-protein complexes involving these effectors. 

If interested, please send your CV to [log in to unmask].​