Research assistant (m/f/d) in Bioinformatics or Computational Biology

In the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, the independent research group Receptor Biochemistry invites applications for a

Research assistant (m/f/d) in Bioinformatics or Computational Biology

(Salary: 13,83 € (Bachelor) or 18,78 € (Master) per hour, working time can be set up with flexibility and has a maximum of 86 hours per month, initially limited for 6 months)

to be filled immediately.

Who we are:

The Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry (IPB) is a non-university research institution of the Leibniz Association on the Weinberg Campus of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. As a foundation under public law, the IPB is under direct supervision of the state of Saxony-Anhalt. The IPB is an internationally recognized research institution and consists of four scientific Departments and additional independent research groups (approx. 200 employees, including around 40 doctoral students). Research at the IPB aims to understand the (bio)chemical basis of plant resilience and performance in challenging environments related to climate change. The IPB offers excellent research facilities and state-of-the-art infrastructure to study the chemical diversity, biochemical interactions and biological functions of small natural product molecules in plants and fungi (https://www.ipb-halle.de/en/).

The Independent Research Group “Receptor Biochemistry” studies the interplay between proteases and receptors in immunity and develops the engineering of immune proteases for crop protection in an interdisciplinary, and highly stimulating scientific environment. Information about the research group and the IPB can be found on the homepage: www.ipb-halle.de

Research topic:

We are looking for a creative, curious, team-minded and enthusiastic candidate to join our team to contribute to projects which will focus on the application computational tools for predicting protease substrates and inhibitors. The state-of-the-art structural prediction methods will be combined with methods from computational biochemistry. The work will be performed in close collaboration with the groups of Dr Mehdi Davari and Dr Frank Broda.

Your tasks:

• In silico prediction of protease repertoires from plant and microbial plant pathogens
• In silico prediction of protease inhibitors and substrates
• Molecular docking of putative inhibitors, substrates and chemical probes with proteases

Your profile:

The successful candidate must hold a master’s or bachelor’s degree in computational science including biology, bioinformatics, cheminformatics, computational (bio)chemistry or biophysics and is supposed to have a solid command of English communications skills. Applicants should have a strong background in the following fields:

• Understanding of the principles that define protein structures, functions, dynamics and interactions
• GNU/Linux, bash, Python, data analysis and visualization, familiarity with Google Colab, job management on HPC systems
• Sequence-based search in genomic data, extraction and functional annotation of ORFs
• Protein structure prediction and modelling, e.g. in Rosetta, MODELLER, AlphaFold, etc.
• Small molecule docking, e.g. in Autodock Vina, Rosetta, etc.
• Protein-peptide complex prediction or docking, e.g. in Rosetta, AlphaFold multimer, Haddock, etc.
• Structural similarity assessment and structure-based search

 Additional skills in computational biochemistry and bioinformatics are a plus:

• Developing of custom pipelines, including ML-based
• Familiarity with molecular dynamics simulations
• Database construction and management

How to apply and information:

Please, contact Dr. Mariana Schuster for additional information (mariana.schuster(at)ipb-halle.de; Phone: +49 (0) 345 5582 1720)

Applications must include a single pdf document via email attachment. Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications a single pdf document via email attachment , including a (i) detailed curriculum vitae, (iii) academic certificates /transcripts (master and bachelor) (iii) a brief statement of research interests, and (v) and contact details of two referees (or two recommendation letters). Please send your complete application documents including the reference number 18/2024 exclusively by email to bewerbungen(at)ipb-halle.de.

Review of applications begins immediately and will continue until the position is filled.

Diversity, family and equal opportunities:

The IPB aspires to the goal of equal opportunity, diversity, and the promotion of work-life balance as it was awarded the certificate "Total E-Quality". In addition, the IPB is a member of the nationwide company network "Success Factor Family" and of the “Diversity Charter” (Charta der Vielfalt).

Further information can be found at: https://www.ipb-halle.de/en/institute/

Data protection:

Please note, the data protection information for applicants (m/f/d) according to Article 13 and 14 GDPR on data protection processing during the application process: 

https://www.ipb-halle.de/en/career/data-protection-information-for-applicants/