A post-doctoral position is available in the Laboratory of Bacterial Molecular Biology (LABMB) within the CEPID B3 (Biology of Bacteria and Bacteriophages), one of the Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers (CEPID in the Portuguese acronym) supported by FAPESP, the São Paulo Research Foundation, in São Paulo state, Brazil. CEPID B3 is hosted by the University of São Paulo's Institute of Chemistry (IQ-USP) and has several associated institute, the State University of Campinas's Institute of Biology (IB-UNICAMP) being one of them.

The aim is to explore the potential use of native and recombinant phage endolysins (Els) as antimicrobial agents to Gram-negative bacteria. This will be accomplished by: selecting of endolysin sequences from GenBank based on catalytic activity and potential outer membrane permeabilization domains; in silico design of recombinant endolysins; cloning, expression and purification of native and recombinant endolysins; evaluation of antimicrobial activity in vitro with free or encapsulated formulations; bacterial cell integrity after endolysin treatment observed by fluorescent microscopy and ATP leakage; test of the antibacterial activity in Galleria mellonella model.

It is desirable that candidates have experience in basic microbiology and molecular biology techniques, such as bacterial growing, PCR and cloning, protein expression and purification.

Applications must be submitted via e-mail to cepid-b3@iq.usp.br by August 30th, 2023, accompanied by the following documents:

- A letter describing the reasons for the interest in this position and previous academic experience;

- Two recommendation letters;

- A short CV indicating the link to Google Scholar, Research ID or ORCID profiles.

This opportunity is open to candidates of any nationality. The selected candidate will receive a FAPESP Post-Doctoral fellowship in the amount of R$ 9,047.40 monthly and a research contingency fund, equivalent to 10% of the annual value of the fellowship which should be spent on items directly related to the research activity. 

 

More information about the fellowship is at: fapesp.br/oportunidades/6293.