From the beginning of time, people have tried to understand and fight aging, and myths of eternal youth continue to pique our curiosity. Aging is a natural phenomenon that affects the entire physiology of an organism. It is also one of the most intriguing issues of modern biology as it occurs despite numerous complex pathways of maintenance and repair. As chronological age of an organism increases, a number of errors accumulate at different levels of biological organization. The tendency of errors to accumulate and cause downstream problems is met by numerous mechanisms that serve as protectors, correctors and cleaners of cell components. These mechanisms involve a variety of dedicated maintenance functions, including chaperones, reactive oxygen species scavenging enzymes, DNA damage response, etc. It follows that protection and maintenance failure detriments one or more cellular functions, which, in turn, may lead to aging and disease.
The overarching goal of this project is to understand the events that trigger aging and determine life span at the level of pathways involved in RNA and protein quality control. We aim to apply state-of-art genomics, proteomics and imaging methods on model systems Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Caenorhabditis elegans to address the role of the decline in cellular RNA and protein pool function in aging and age-related diseases.
The Krisko lab is looking for a postdoctoral researcher interested in studying the mechanisms of protein resistance to oxidative modifications and its involvement of aging at Center of excellence for science and technology integrating Mediterranean region (STIM) – STIM-REI project (research, innovation and education).
The candidates should have a strong background in biochemistry and biophysics and at least one first-author publication. The candidates will be expected to work with model systems like yeast and/or cell cultures, and have experience in imaging.
This strongly application-oriented research position is an integral part of interdisciplinary research activities unifying design and verification of innovative nanosensors and their use for in-vivo detection of protein damage at the Mediterranean Institute for Life Sciences (MedILS) in Split, Croatia (http://www.medils.org).
Research will be mentored by dr.sc Anita Kriško. This collaborative effort will bring together expertise in theoretical design of nanomaterials (prof. Vlasta Bonačić-Koutecky, STIM-REI, Croatia), synthesis and experimental verification of the nanomaterials (dr. Rodolphe Antoine, dr. Philippe Dugourd, University of Lyon, France) and age and stress related quantification of protein damage (dr. Anita Kriško, prof. Miroslav Radman, MedILS, Croatia).
Good communication skills in English are expected.
The initial appointment will be for one year with possibility of extension for up to 5 years. More information is available on request.
For more information about Kriško lab, please visit:
http://www.medils.org/research/groups/macromolecular-homeostasis-in-aging
If interested please send:
- your CV
- a statement of your research interest
- copy of ID
- copy of diploma
- list of publication along with a brief explanation of the contribution of these works in relevant research area
- e-mail addresses of three references
via e-mail medils@medils.hr and anita.krisko@medils.hr
The call will be open until 12.02.2018.