A post-doctoral position is available immediately in Audrey L. Atkin’s research group at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to identify the mechanisms that protect mRNAs from nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. This position is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation for up to three years.
We study mechanisms of mRNA decay regulation using the yeast nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway as a model system. NMD is a specialized pathway that is responsible for the recognition and rapid degradation of mRNAs with premature stop codons, and as we and others have shown, some wild type mRNAs as well. However not all wild type mRNAs with NMD targeting signals are degraded by the NMD pathway. The mechanism responsible for protection of these mRNAs from NMD is unknown and is a focus of our current research.
The Atkin research group is located in the Beadle Center, the focus of life sciences research at the University of Nebraska. The Center is home to multiple interdisciplinary research programs and to core facilities for bioinformatics, genomics, microscopy, mass spectrometry, and structural biology. Atkin group collaborates with other fungal biologists as well as faculty with expertise in bioinformatics, computer science and statistics.
Applicants must have completed a Ph.D., have a strong background in molecular/cell biology, biochemistry or a related field, and an established publication record. Previous experience in RNA biology is an advantage. Strong technical and communication skills, as well as independent thinking are essential.
Applicant should send their CV, contact information for three referees, and a brief personal statement that include scientific and career goals as a single PDF document to atkinlabUNL@gmail.com.