PhD position: Rotational and translational diffusion in protein solutions undergoing liquid-liquid phase separation

Doctoral project at the Martin Luther University Halle, Institute of Physics, NMR group (Prof. Kay Saalwächter), starting asap or later in 2023 (subject to negotiations). The research focuses on applications of NMR spectroscopy and complementary techniques to unravel structure and dynamics im macromolecular soft-matter systems. Applicants should have a Master degree (or comparable) in Physics, Chemistry, Polymer Science or a related field, and have prior knowledge of (or strong interest in) soft-matter science, biophysics and/or molecular spectroscopy.

Molecular motion of biopolymers in vivo is known to be strongly influenced by the high concentration of organic matter inside cells, usually referred to as crowding conditions. This project is concerned with the influence of the strong intermolecular interactions on Brownian motion of proteins undergoing liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS). This is a process of strong current interest due to its high biological relevance, as it yields highly crowded “membraneless organelles”. In the project, a combination of NMR spectroscopy techniques, prominently relaxometry and pulsed-field gradient NMR [1], shall be used to study rotational and translational diffusion, respectively. The work also includes biochemical preparations of proteins (gammaD crystallin and growth factor receptor-bound protein 2, supported by collaboration partners and following standard procedures easily learned also by a physicist), as well as the application of complementary characterization techniques such as small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and viscosity measurements.
[1] J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 32, 10365–10372. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6b06615

Please apply asap via our application portal: https://blogs.urz.uni-halle.de/irtgpolymers/application-webpage/