Two post-doctoral positions are available in solid-state NMR in Lyon.
Open post-doctoral position in solid-state NMR of paramagnetic proteins
The Center for Very High Field NMR in Lyon (France) recruits a post doctoral fellow (2 years) on the structural investigation of microcrystalline paramagnetic proteins by solid-state NMR.
The successful candidate will develop new ways to determine structure and dynamics in paramagnetic microcrystalline metalloproteins. The changes induced by the presence of a paramagnetic metal depend in a well-defined manner on the structure of the molecule, providing a variety of structural restraints, more numerous and more valuable than the corresponding effect that can be measured by NMR in solution. In contrast to diamagnetic effects, paramagnetic phenomena provide long-range information due to the large value of the electron magnetic moment, and are at the same time a valuable probe of the electronic state of a metal ion, its coordination, its reactivity.
The successful candidate will investigate these effects in the solid-state and implement these paramagnetic observables as restrains for the determination of protein structures in the solid-state. More ambitiously, the candidate will develop protocols to improve heteronuclear signal detection and assignment close to paramagnetic metals, where standard acquisition schemes fail due to the large shift anisotropies and the fast nuclear relaxation induced by the unpaired electrons.
The Center for Very High Field NMR in Lyon, which is affiliated to the CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research) and the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, one of the leading Grandes Ecoles in France, will provide the ideal interdisciplinary (physics – chemistry – biology) environment and the necessary facilities to carry out the project. The center is equipped with state of the art NMR spectrometers (the world's first 1 GHz spectrometer will be installed in the center at the end of 2008), and hosts research groups of world-wide recognized excellence, notably in the rapidly growing field of solid-state NMR of proteins.
For more information about our center and to consult our recent publications please visit our webpage: http://www.ens-lyon.fr/crmn
The ideal candidate will possess previous experience with liquid-state or solid-state protein NMR experiments. The position will be available from the beginning of January 2009. If you are interested please contact either Dr. Guido Pintacuda or Pr. Lyndon Emsley at guido.pintacuda@ens-lyon.fr and lyndon.emsley@ens-lyon.fr.
Open post-doctoral position in experimental NMR techniques for paramagnetic solids
The Center for Very High Field NMR in Lyon (France) recruits a post doctoral fellow (2 years) on the development of new experimental methods for the NMR study of paramagnetic solids.
NMR potentially provides a direct method for determining paramagnetic shifts and relaxation rates, which are direct probes of the electronic and molecular structures in paramagnetic compounds. However, to date, in solids, resolution, sensitivity and efficiency of traditional NMR experiments are hampered by the very same large orientation-dependent paramagnetic shifts, by enhanced nuclear relaxation, by anisotropic bulk broadenings, and by the difficulty to obtain efficient proton decoupling.
The goal in this area will be twofold: i) to engineer new rf irradiation schemes suitable for correctly handling largely anisotropic, fast relaxing paramagnetic signals, so to allow detection and assignment of well-resolved resonances originating from nuclei close to a paramagnetic metal ion, for which traditional solid-state NMR approaches only afford extremely poor resolution and sensitivity; ii) to develop protocols for structure determination around a metal center using paramagnetic NMR effects, so to simultaneously provide information not only on the conformation of the molecule in the lattice, but also on the intermolecular packing in the solid phase in a sort of 'NMR crystallography'.
The proposed research will target the structural determinations of powdered solids of low-molecular weight molecular model catalysts at natural abundance, containing paramagnetic centers with different relaxation properties, ranging from the isotropic, slow-relaxing Cu(II) and Mn(II) ions, to the very anisotropic, fast-relaxing lanthanides Ln(III), and including high-spin Fe(II), low- and high-spin Fe(III), Cr(II) and Co(II). The techniques developed with the these compounds will subsequently be applied to the analysis of complexes grafted on silica or adsorbed in polystyrene matrices.
The Center for Very High Field NMR in Lyon, which is affiliated to the CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research) and the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, one of the leading Grandes Ecoles in France, will provide the ideal interdisciplinary environment and the necessary facilities to carry out the project. The center is equipped with state of the art NMR spectrometers (the world's first 1 GHz spectrometer will be installed in the center at the end of 2008), and hosts research groups of world-wide recognized excellence.
For more information about our center and to consult our recent publications please visit our webpage: http://www.ens-lyon.fr/crmn
The ideal candidate will preferably possess previous experience with experimental or theoretical liquid-state or solid-state NMR. The position will be available from the beginning of January 2009. If you are interested please contact either Dr. Guido Pintacuda or Pr. Lyndon Emsley at guido.pintacuda@ens-lyon.fr and lyndon.emsley@ens-lyon.fr.
