Structural dynamics of light-sensitive proteins studied
by time-resolved crystallography at XFELs
We have an opening for a PhD student at the Institut de Biologie Structurale (www.ibs.fr) in Grenoble, France, to study the structural dynamics of light-sensitive proteins by time-resolved serial crystallography at XFELs and potentially future 4th generation synchrotrons.
Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) at X-ray free electron lasers (XFEL) allows studying crystalline proteins at work by means of time-resolved crystallography (TR-SFX). We apply TR-SFX to explore conformational changes after photon absorption by various light-sensitive proteins on a broad time scale ranging from sub-picoseconds to seconds (Nature Chemistry 10, 31 (2018); Nature Communications 11, 741 (2020)). These animate structures obtained by static SFX (J Phys Chem Lett 7, 882 (2016); Nature 539, 43 (2016)).
Experiments are being carried out at the XFELs in Hamburg (EuXFEL), in Japan (SACLA), at Stanford (LCLS), in Switzerland (SwissFEL) and are planned to take place at the newly upgraded ESRF synchrotron.
For details on our research and collaborators, see:
We welcome applications from students trained in protein biophysics, and preferably in crystallography.
If you are interested, please contact either Martin Weik (weik@ibs.fr) or Jacques-Philippe Colletier (colletier@ibs.fr).