Postdoctoral researcher in computational molecular biophysics/chemistry

The Departament of Physical Chemistry at Gdansk University of Technology is seeking to recruit a postdoctoral researcher to work within the group of Dr. Jacek Czub on the mechanochemical coupling in the ATP synthase using molecular simulations, starting in October 2020.

ATP synthase is—to use a phrase due to Boyer—“a splendid molecular machine” that plays a central role in cellular bioenergetics, but due to its complex structure and multiple inhibition mechanisms has also recently emerged as an attractive target for the development of novel therapeutics. The goal of the current project is to advance our understanding of the mechanism of action of ATP synthase, with a special emphasis on the possibility of selective inhibition of the microbial forms of the enzyme with small molecules. In particular, the successful candidate will use state-of-the-art multiscale molecular simulations to examine the energy conversion mechanism in ATP synthase and to identify differences in this mechanism between the protein homologues that could allow for selective inhibition.