Post Doc for Computational Protein Sequence-to-Function Discovery

Why Work at BNL?
Brookhaven National Laboratory (www.bnl.gov) delivers discovery science and transformative technology to power and secure the nation's future. Brookhaven Lab is a multidisciplinary laboratory with seven Nobel Prize-winning discoveries, 37 R&D 100 Awards, and more than 70 years of pioneering research. The Lab is primarily supported by the U.S. Department Energy's (DOE) Office of Science. Brookhaven Science Associates (BSA) operates and manages the Laboratory for DOE. BSA is a partnership between Battelle and The Research Foundation for the State University of New York on behalf of Stony Brook University.

Position Description

CSI has an opening for a post-doc to participate in multi-disciplinary development of new tools to facilitate sequence-to-function discovery. BNL is the home to several state-of-art research facilities, including synchrotron beamlines at NSLS-II (https://www.bnl.gov/ps/lifesciences/), cryo-EM at the new Laboratory for BioMolecular Structures (LBMS, https://www.bnl.gov/cryo-em/), and computation at the Computational Science Initiative (CSI, https://www.bnl.gov/compsci/). We have initiated a project, with participation from investigators from Biology Department, CSI, LBMS and NSLS-II, to develop integrative data analysis to maximize the impact of the data collected at the BNL facilities. More specifically, computation and modeling will be used to help put in context multi-scale data from different experimental methods, including crystallography, solution scattering, and cryo-EM. Together with other team members, the candidate will carry out proof-of-concept research using a series of pre-selected test cases, including determining mechanistic understanding for a novel nucleotide-dependent fungal zinc transferase involved in protein biogenesis and studying the dynamics of heme-zinc cooperativity in a newly discovered cyanobacterial heme protein. This work will help establish standard workflows that will become more broadly applicable to user projects at NSLS-II and LBMS. The long-term goal is to eventually establish a new research center that interfaces external users with the research capabilities at BNL. This position has a two-year term. Extension to a third year will depend on satisfactory performance and funding.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Understand the scientific requirements and current state of the field
• Develop multi-scale modeling and other relevant tools for integrative data analysis
• Work with colleagues to analyze data
• Publish results

Position Requirements

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Ph.D. in molecular biology, computational biology, or a related field
• Experience using multi-scale structural modeling (e.g., molecular dynamics and coarse-grained simulations) to study molecular flexibility and interaction
• Experience in collaborative software development in support of structural biology research
• Manuscript writing and demonstrated track record of publication
• Self-motivation and ability to work in a diverse team environment

Preferred Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Experience with integrative data analysis in structural biology that involve data from multiple experimental techniques
• Experience in developing applications designed to run on high performance computing systems.

OTHER INFORMATION: (add if applicable)

• Moderate domestic and foreign travel