ESR12: PhD position on bioinformatics characterization of peroxisomal proteins : Heidelberg, Germany

The Marie Curie Initial Training Network PERFUME (PERoxisome FUnction, MEtabolism) is opening Marie Curie fellowship positions for Early Stage Researchers. PERFUME is funded by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme under Grant Agreement No. 316723.
The PERFUME program is an interdisciplinary and intersectoral initial stage training network (ITN) at the interface of medicine, plant and fungal biology, devoted to understanding the principles of peroxisome biology. Peroxisomes are ubiquitous organelles that are essential in man. Relative to other organelles, still little is known on their biogenesis and function.
The student will perform bioinformatics tasks in different projects of the Perfume programme. Protein sequences will be analyzed by bioinformatics tools, including protein sequences analysis, pattern matching, homologues detection, and structure prediction in collaboration with the University of Stavanger and Lifeglimmer (Berlin). The major project involves the bioinformatics analysis of structure information of proteins involved in peroxisome fission and formation from the endoplasmic reticulum based on X-ray structure information. Mutants will be designed for subsequent analysis by other Perfume fellows. Prediction of novel peroxisome functions will be realized by homology and linear and 3D pattern detection. In addition, the student will study promoter regions of stress induced genes, by an analysis of promoter sequence, definition of sequence pattern and whole genome searches.
Part of the research will be performed at the University of Stavanger and the EMBL in Hamburg.
Location: Heidelberg, Germany
Supervisor: Dr. Damien Devos (damien.devos@cos.uni-heidelberg.de)
Co-supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ida J. van der Klei, University of Groningen
Required subject specific skills and expertise: a master’s degree in bioinformatics. Experience in the analysis of protein structure information and protein structure prediction is highly recommended.
For further information and application see: www.itn-perfume.eu.