Faculty:Faculty of Science

The Faculty of Science of Utrecht University consists of six departments: Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Information and Computing Sciences, Physics and Astronomy, Chemistry and Mathematics. The Faculty is home to 3500 students and nearly 2000 staff and is internationally renowned for the quality of its research. The Faculty's academic programmes reflect developments in today's society.

Department: Chemistry

Research group: Computational Structural Biology

The Computational Structural Biology group of Prof. Dr. A.M.J.J. Bonvin is embedded in the NMR Research Group part of the Chemistry Department and belongs to the Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research. The group has a strong experience in the modelling of biomolecular interactions and is developing among others the HADDOCK software. The direct vicinity of several structural biology groups and techniques within the Bijvoet Center (NMR, X-ray, MS, and cryo-EM in the future) provides valuable expertise, which is especially relevant in the context of this project.

Project description: Macromolecular machineries are stunning assemblies of interacting biomolecules involved in all elementary processes of life. Advances in biophysics and biochemistry have pushed back the limits of their structural characterization. Still there is no single technique that allows to answers all questions at once. Consequently, in the structural biology of the 21^st century, it will only be the combination of various experimental methods that will provide a comprehensive picture of the structure and dynamics of such complex machines. There is therefore a need for integrative computational structural biology methods to deal with the variety in the amount, quality and resolution of the experimental data. The main aim of this project is to develop a holistic and versatile approach that integrates various information sources into computational structural biology tools to zoom into macromolecular assemblies at atomic detail. The goal is to bridge the gap between low-resolution modelling and an atomic description of the system and its interactions. For this a variety of low- to medium-resolution information sources, fundamental to apprehend the architecture, dynamics, and function of large complexes, will be integrated into our information-driven flexible docking approach HADDOCK in order to gain atomic knowledge on the interacting biomolecules.

Requirements:The candidate for the Ph.D. position is expected to have a Master's degree or an equivalent in chemistry, physics, bioinformatics, computational biology or a related field with a strong background in the modelling of biomolecular systems, experience with Linux and programming skills. We will however consider motivated candidates with any pertinent background. 

Salary: The gross salary ranges between € 2042,- and maximum € 2612,- per month.

Conditions of employment:The candidate is offered a full-time position for four years.The salary is supplemented with a holiday bonus of 8% and an end-of-year bonus of 8,3% per year. In addition we offer: a pension scheme, a partially paid parental leave, flexible employment conditions. Conditions are based on the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities. 

Additional Information: For further information about this position contact Prof. Dr. Alexandre M.J.J. Bonvin (a.m.j.j.bonvin@uu.nl)

 Sending your application: Please apply online (including a letter of motivation, curriculum vitae and contact details of at least two references) before September 15^th via the following web site: http://goo.gl/0Y1x5

 A description of the position can also be found at: http://www.uu.nl/NL/Informatie/sollicitanten/Pages/vacatures.aspx