Postdoctoral Research Assistant –To study signalling pathways linked to Parkinson’s disease at – University of Dundee, Scotland -Ph.D.Biology, Life science–University of Dundee- Apply

Description & Details: Postdoctoral position to study signalling pathways linked to Parkinson’s disease in the laboratories of Dr Miratul Muqit and Professor Dario Alessi FRS. Applications are invited for one postdoctoral position to work jointly between the laboratories of Miratul Muqit and Dario Alessi to elucidate fundamental mechanisms of Parkinson’s disease. This position is funded by a prestigious Network of Centres of Excellence in Neurodegeneration (CoEN) award in partnership with the MRC in the UK and DZNE in Germany. The Muqit and Alessi laboratories have a major interest in the PINK1 and LRRK2 kinases that are mutated in Parkinson’s. Recently the Muqit lab has identified a family of Rab GTPases as novel substrates of PINK1 (EMBO Journal, 2015). In new work the Alessi lab has found that LRRK2 can also regulate Rab GTPases (eLife in press, 2016). The project will aim to uncover a common downstream signalling pathway involving the regulation of Rabs by PINK1 and LRRK2. These studies have the potential to define unifying molecular mechanism at the heart of Parkinson’s neurodegeneration. The project will also be closely aligned to parallel genetic studies in the laboratory of Thomas Gasser at the DZNE in Tubingen with novel biochemical signalling molecules interrogated for their role as new genetic factors in Parkinson’s disease.

The successful applicant will have access to state-of-the-art technologies in biochemistry, proteomics, genome editing, cell biology, and transgenic mouse models to uncover new fundamental knowledge on these key molecules. The MRC unit also collaborates with six major pharmaceutical companies that support the Division of Signal Transduction Therapy that provides opportunities to exploit the therapeutic potential of new discoveries made in the lab.

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