Postdoctoral Fellow Marshall University

Postdoctoral Fellow

Marshall University

in Huntington, WV

Type: Full-Time

Salary: Salary is commensurate with experience and internal equity

Posted: Today

Application Due: Open Until Filled

Category: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Banner Position Number: R10910

Department: SOM-BioMedical Science - RC5130

Job Description

Job Summary:

The Xu Lab in the Department of Biomedical Sciences is seeking a motivated and skilled Postdoctoral Fellow to join our team. The candidate will lead a research project focusing on molecular microbiology of infectious diseases. One focus of this role involves inhibitor design and validating these targets. The ideal candidate will possess extensive hands-on experience in microbial construct design, genetic transformation, recombinant protein expression, and targeting those proteins with biochemical inhibitors.

Key Responsibilities:

Inhibitor Design: Apply computational tools (docking, molecular dynamics) or experimental methods to design and screen small-molecule, peptide, or fragment-based inhibitors against target proteins.

Assay Development: Establish biochemical, biophysical, and cellular assays to measure inhibitor binding affinity and functional enzyme inhibition.

Construct Cloning: Design and construct expression plasmids, genetic vectors, and CRISPR-based tools for bacterial/host systems.

Strain Engineering: Engineer microbial strains and mammalian cells.

Protein Expression: Purify target proteins using chromatographic methods.

Characterization: Perform biochemical characterization, Western blotting, ELISA, and functional assays to validate protein activity.

Salary Range: Salary is commensurate with experience and internal equity

Education

Ph.D. in Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, or a closely related field.

Experience

Demonstrated experience in inhibitor design, structural biology, or biochemical assay development for target evaluation.

Proven expertise in molecular cloning techniques (Gibson assembly, restriction-based, PCR).

Hands-on experience with bacterial transformation and genetic manipulation.

Strong background in recombinant protein expression and purification.

Evidence of productivity: At least one first-author publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

Experience using structural biology or computational chemistry software (e.g., PyMOL, Schrödinger, AutoDock, Rosetta).

Experience with biophysical characterization techniques (e.g., SPR, ITC, MST).

Knowledge of bioinformatics tools for gene/protein analysis.

Posting Number: MR0884

Open Until Filled: Yes

Special Instructions Summary

Please include the following with your application:

A cover letter detailing research experience and interest in the position.

Curriculum Vitae (CV) with a publication list.