Research Fellow in Molecular Virology (FBSMB1148)

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

Applications are sought for a one-year research fellowship associated with our interdisciplinary research programme “New perspectives for anti-viral therapy: The regulatory roles of genomic RNA in virus assembly, infection and evolution”. This Wellcome Trust funded research aims to determine the consequences of our recent discovery of genome-encoded virus assembly instructions in positive-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses. These are mediated by multiple, dispersed RNA structures termed Packaging Signals (PSs) that have a common recognition motif for their cognate coat proteins and play regulatory roles in virion assembly. PS-mediated assembly is highly co-operative and evolutionarily conserved, and occurs in a wide range of viral families including those infecting bacteria, plants and humans (see below for specific references). The same mechanism applies to the para-retrovirus Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), which assembles its nucleocapsid initially around a ssRNA pre-genome, and we have recently shown that this process is drugable. 

This post will explore whether the alphavirus family of insect borne pathogens also assembles their nucleocapsids using similar principles. The project will take the same approach as was used in HBV to isolate core protein binding RNA aptamers, screen their sequences against those of the cognate genomes and identify putative PSs. Their functional consequences for assembly will be examined in vitro using recombinant alphavirus core proteins in single molecule spectroscopy assays and via other biophysical and structural techniques, e.g. analytical sedimentation and electron microscopy. 

This posts offers an opportunity to join a highly productive, interdisciplinary team headed by Professor Peter Stockley (Leeds, where the post will be based) and Professor Reidun Twarock (York, where the theory team will be based). We are looking for ambitious, highly motivated applicants with a PhD in an appropriate field as specified in the post description below. A keen interest to work in a highly interdisciplinary environment is essential. 

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

Professor Peter Stockley, Professor of Biological Chemistry

Tel: +44 (0)113 343 3092; email: p.g.stockley@leeds.ac.uk

Closing Date: 12 Oct 2018
Category: Research