This postdoctoral project aims to establish the structural and thermodynamic properties of Ca2+-sensitive domains or proteins that regulate Ca2+ transport across the membrane. Ca2+ ions are crucial in many cellular processes, including neuronal response, muscle contraction, enzyme activity, gene transcription, cell death, proliferation and differentiation. We study specific structural domains/proteins and their interactions that regulate the transport of Ca2+ across the membrane. Specific systems currently involve the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger, a highly ubiquitous ion transporter that constitutes the dominant Ca2+ efflux mechanism in heart and sensory neurons and the TRPV5/6, a Ca2+ channel functionally connected to the exchanger. This project will be approached by conducting advanced high-resolution NMR spectroscopy experiments, yielding information on structure and dynamics on different timescales, in conjunction with other biophysical techniques, such as Isothermal Titration Calorimetry (ITC), yielding information of energetic aspects of the interactions. Together, they serve as a basis for the design and implementation of structurally inspired modifications of function and testing of these concepts with cell-biological assays. This two-year postdoctoral project will be conducted by the Protein Biophysics group of the Institute for Molecules and Materials and will be performed in collaboration with Dr. M. Hilge, Prof. R. Bindels (NCMLS, Nijmegen) and Dr. J. Hoenderop (NCMLS, Nijmegen).
From the monthly archives:
November 2008
URGENT REQUIRED: CREATIVE DESIGN
Vacancies for Research Positions at creative design for innovation and technology
Deadline: 1 December 2008
Applications are invited for 13 studentships on creative design, 4
of which at Lancaster University, UK. Each position is funded for 36
months. The network requires expertise from various disciplines and
the specific requirements as well as details about each individual
projects can be found under Projects. To discuss project
opportunities, please contact either the lead supervisor, for
information on a specific project, or the Coordinator for general
enquiries.
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Neuropharmacology of Social Adaptive Behaviour
Radboud University Nijmegen looking for PhD student for Neuropharmacology of Social Adaptive Behaviour Will be Placed on Nijmegen, Gelderland, The Netherlands with 40 hours per week.
The Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour currently has an opening at the Centre for Cognition for a PhD student within the project “Neuropharmacology of social adaptive behaviour”. This project will focus on the role of the neuropeptide oxytocin in efficient social adaptive behaviour in healthy volunteers and its relation to disturbed social cognitive processing in psychiatric disorders. Behavioural and neuroimaging (EEG, fMRI) experiments are currently planned and resources are available to incorporate additional methods such as MEG and eye-tracking. The PhD student will work within a young, interdisciplinary team, which is embedded in an internationally well-established research unit. We offer a unique, multidisciplinary working and learning environment with possibilities to develop expertise in a diversity of research areas and techniques. The project not only incorporates well-established social cognition tasks (e.g. emotion recognition, social decision making), but will specifically focus on the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying ‘social adaptive behaviour’. In social interactions, individuals not only have to plan and monitor their own actions and errors, but they also have to keep track of and anticipate the actions of the person they are interacting with. Moreover, they have to flexibly adapt their behaviour to the actions of their co-actors. The present research will investigate this form of adaptive behaviour using a novel combination of methods and techniques, including EEG, fMRI, psychopharmacology, and clinical populations.
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SINGAPORE SCHOLARSHIP 2009/2010
SINGAPORE SCHOLARSHIP INVITATION FOR APPLICATIONS ACADEMIC YEAR 2009/2010
The Singapore Government awards the scholarship to Government-endorsed students from the other member countries of the ASEAN. Each Scholarship is for a full-time undergraduate degree course at the Nanyang Technological University, the National University of Singapore and the Singapore Management University. All disciplines except for Medicine and Dentistry are open to Scholars. The duration of each scholarships is for three or four years, depending on the discipline.
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