Postdoctoral Research Associate - Oxford, United Kingdom - University of Oxford

University of Oxford

Verified Company

Oxford, United Kingdom

1 week ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

beBee Recruiter

Description

About the role

The arms race at the plant-pathogen interface is a fascinating field of biology that can deliver important new, extracellular strategies for crop protection.

We used artificial intelligence to predict novel protein-protein interactions at the plant-pathogen interface and discovered five unrelated inhibitors produced by four different tomato pathogens that all target the P69B immune protease of tomato (Homma et al., Nat.

Comm This project aims to elucidate the arms-races between these inhibitors and P69B-like immune proteases and use this knowledge to engineer extracellular immunity.

You will first resolve the inhibition mechanisms and determine the specificities of interactions with P69B paralogs and homologs, also from non-host plants.

Second, you will determine the role of P69s in immunity and the role of inhibitors in pathogen virulence using reverse genetics on tomato and the pathogens.

Third, you will elucidate the evolution of the P69 gene family in solanaceous plants and engineer inhibitor insensitive P69s to build a strategy for durable extracellular resistance to apoplastic pathogens.

About you

We seek an enthusiastic new colleague who has extensive experience in molecular cloning, protein expression and purification, and protease assays and who is keen to take advantage of new AI approaches and be part of an interdisciplinary research team.

How to apply
The University of Oxford is committed to equality and valuing diversity. All applicants will be judged on merit, according to the selection criteria.

This post is a fixed term, full time position and available from 01 June 2024.