PhD Student on Interrogating Plasma Membrane Permeabilization and Repair at Nanoscale

Project background

A controlled permeabilization of cells to facilitate cytosolic delivery of synthetic peptides and other biomolecules would greatly benefit the development of novel therapeutics but also poses a major challenge to medicinal chemistry. Various synthetic carriers that affect non-lytic membrane passage of bioactive cargos have been reported. However, insights into how these carriers disrupt the membrane barrier and how cells respond to this breach in structural integrity have remained elusive owing to a lack of experimental approaches enabling selective interrogation. The successful candidate will join the DFG-funded Research Training Group RTG-2900 “nanomaterials@biomembranes” to investigate novel supramolecular materials for their capacity to promote plasma membrane passage of peptide cargo and trigger membrane damage response pathways. Toward this end, surface architectures of membrane bilayer-destabilizing supramolecular materials will be combined with super-resolution live cell imaging technologies to interrogate cargo transport and membrane repair-associated lipid scrambling at confined sites of cell permeabilization. Besides contributing to the development of novel strategies for the cytosolic delivery of polar therapeutics, the project should also help elucidate how cells exploit Ca²⁺-activated lipid scramblases to detect and clear minor lesions in their membranes.

Key references: Barba-Bon et al., 2022, Nature 603, 637-642; Niekamp et al., 2022, Nature Comm 13, 1875; Sokoya et al., 2022, eLife 11, e79278; Holthuis & Menon, 2014, Nature 510, 48-57

Required qualifications

• Completed degree (M.Sc.) in biology, (bio)chemistry or biophysics
• Solid background in assay development ideally combined with expertise in live cell microscopy
• Strong interest in interdisciplinary research
• Ability to work in a team and willingness to engage in multilateral research cooperation
• Very good command of written and spoken English

We offer

• A cutting-edge research project at the interface of lipid cell biology, nanotechnology and super-resolution live cell imaging approaches
• State-of-the-art instrumental infrastructure in a cooperative working environment (CellNanOS; https://www.cellnanos.uni-osnabrueck.de/en)
• Integration into a structured, tailor-made PhD and qualification program (https://www2.uni-osnabrueck.de/rtg2900/en/)
• Intensive and interdisciplinary supervision by project leaders and methodological experts
• Collegial cooperation in an interdisciplinary and international research team working on fundamental and disease-relevant aspects of lipid cell biology

Conditions of employment

• The application deadline is 15 June 2024. The position will be filled as soon as possible
• The position is fixed for a period of 3 years
• Salary is at the E13/65% level according to the German TV-L scale
• UOS is a family-friendly university and committed to helping working/studying parents balance their family and working lives
• UOS seeks to ensure equal opportunities for women and men and strives to correct any gender imbalance in its schools and departments
• If two candidates are equally qualified, preference will be given to the candidate with disability status

How to apply

Applications including an informative letter of motivation, curriculum vitae with list of publications as well as the names and contact details of two academic referees should be sent as a single PDF-document by June 15th, 2024 to Prof. Dr. Joost Holthuis (holthuis@uos.de). Further information can be obtained from Prof. Dr. Joost Holthuis (holthuis@uos.de; Phone +49 541 969 7140).