We are looking for a qualified leader to manage our membrane protein E. coli expression efforts in the Stroud Lab at UCSF-Mission Bay. These efforts are one component of a multi-disciplinary membrane protein consortium focusing on developing expression, purification, crystallization, and crystallography methods, and solving membrane protein structures. The consortium is headed by Professor Robert Stroud, and consists of the Membrane Protein Expression Center (MPEC), Crystal Structures of Membrane Proteins (CSMP), and the Stroud Lab http://www.msg.ucsf.edu/stroud/index.htm . Co-investigators include Professor's Senyon Choe (Salk), Robert Edwards, Kathy Giacomini, David Julius, Ron Kaback (UCLA), Dan Minor, Andrej Sali, Shimon Schuldiner (Hebrew U of Jerusalem), Henning Stahlberg (UCD), James Van Etten (U of Nebraska), and Peter Walter. This is an academic position with a title of Specialist or Post-doctoral fellow.

Essential Job Functions: Responsible for the expression in E. coli of recombinant membrane proteins of sufficient quantity for crystallographic studies. Incumbent will design and implement expression experiments, studying the effects of codon usage, expression tags, and growth conditions (media, starter culture, temperature, CO2, O2, agitation, induction and growth time, ect). The candidate will construct suitable expression vectors, determine expression levels from small-scale cultures, and grow multiple shaker flasks and/or fermentor cultures. The incumbent will manage the work flow, supervise laboratory assistants, write progress reports, be responsible for archiving all clones and vectors, give oral presentations, and will interact directly with PIs, co-workers (postdocs, graduate students, staff) and collaborators of the membrane protein consortium.

Required Skills: Must have significant experience with protein expression in E. coli; high-throughput cloning and expression experience in other cell systems are a plus. Knowledge of different expression vectors and the implications of codon usage are essential. Molecular biology: PCR, cloning (ligation independent and restriction enzyme), sub-cloning, mutagenesis, DNA software analysis (e.g., VectorNTI) and DNA preparation (including purification, quantitation and electrophoresis). Protein expression: Position requires familiarity with appropriate expression vectors and cell strains, preparation of competent cells, transformations, media preparation, shaker growths, fermentation, centrifugation, and SDS-PAGE. Protein purification and crystallization: Experience in cell membrane preparation, and membrane protein purification and crystallization are a plus. General: Applicant must be a team player with very good communication and interpersonal skills. Must be able to work independently with minimal supervision and be able to meet deadlines. Must have very good organizational and filing skills and be capable of maintaining accurate notebooks, files and reports, and comfortable working with instrumentation and computers. Incumbent must be eager to learn, collaborative, responsible and highly motivated to succeed.

Please e-mail CV to Larry Miercke at merc@msg.ucsf.edu