We are looking to recruit a talented post-doctoral researcher in the upcoming year at the US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC. I would be grateful if you could disseminate the attached position description throughout your department or to any graduate students who will be graduating in the next year and have an interest in Synthetic Biology. I have also posted the position description below. 

Salary: $87,198/year with health benefits plus travel support for conference attendance. Please email myself or Dr. Igor Medintz (igor.medintz@nrl.navy.mil) if interested. 

NRC Post Doc Announcement:

http://nrc58.nas.edu/RAPLab10/Opportunity/Opportunity.aspx?LabCode=64&ROPCD=641509&RONum=B8126

Synthetic Biology and Interfacial Catalysis

A postdoctoral research position is available in the Center for Bio/Molecular Science and Engineering at the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington DC (http://www.nrl.navy.mil/).  This position is at the interface of biology and materials and focuses on creating new biocataltyic enzyme-based nanomaterials with emergent properties.

NRL is the Department of Defense’s (DoDs) corporate laboratory for the Navy and Marine Corps. The Center for Bio/Molecular Science and Engineering works at the interface of materials, chemistry, biology, biophysics and materials science to solve critical problems of importance to the Navy and DoD.

Project Description:  When enzymes are displayed at a nanoparticle interface in a controlled and homogeneous manner, in many cases they display substantially enhanced catalytic activity. We are interested in understanding the mechanisms by which enzyme activity is altered and enhanced at this nanoparticle interface and learning how to exploit this in the context of synthetic biology. We are particularly interested in designing and assembling totally artificial enzyme-based biosynthetic pathways on nanoparticles in vitro where the overall catalytic flux through the system can be expected to be greatly enhanced by what appears to be channeling behavior.  This approach represents an important and complementary way of achieving biocatalysis for use synthetic biology that is still extremely underutilized.

Candidates desired experience to include a PhD in a related biological discipline such as molecular biology, biochemistry, or microbiology with some combination of experience in cloning and recombinant DNA technology, enzymatic assays, fluorescence, bacterial-eukaryotic cell expression and analysis, biosensing, and synthetic biology. Experience with nanoparticles/nanomaterials and FRET are a plus.

Salary: $87,198/year with health benefits plus travel support for conference attendance. The position is administered through the National Research Council (https://www.nrl.navy.mil/careers/post-doc/nrc/). NRL is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Applicants must be US Citizens or US Permanent Residents at time of application.

Representative publications:

• Ellis, G.A., Díaz, S.A., Medintz, I.L. Enhancing Enzymatic Performance with Nanoparticle Immobilization: Improved Analytical and Control Capability for Synthetic Biochemistry. Current Opinion in Biotechnology 71, 77-90 (2021).
• Díaz, S.A., Choo, P., Oh, E., Susumu, K., Klein, W.P., Walper, S.A., Hastman, D.A., Odom, T.W., Medintz, I.L. Gold Nanoparticle Templating Increases the Catalytic Rate of an Amylase, Maltase, and Glucokinase Multienzyme Cascade through Substrate Channeling Independent of Surface Curvature. ACS Catalysis 11,627-638 (2021).
• Klein, W.; Thomsen, R.; Turner, K.; Walper, S.A.; Vranish, J.; Kjems, J.; Ancona, M.G.; Thakur, M., Medintz, I.L., Enhanced Catalysis from Multienzyme Cascades Assembled On A DNA Origami Triangle. ACS Nano 13, 13677-13689 (2019).
• Ellis, G.A., Klein, W.P., Lasarte Aragones, G., Thakur, M., Walper, S.A., Medintz, I.L. Artificial Multienzyme Scaffolds:  Pursuing In Vitro Substrate Channeling with an Overview of Current Progress.  ACS Catalysis 9, 10812-10869 (2019).
• Breger, J.C., Oh, E., Susumu, K., Klein, W.P., Walper, S.A., Ancona, M.G., Medintz, I.L. Nanoparticle Size Influences Localized Enzymatic Enhancement – A Case Study with Phosphotriesterase. Bioconjugate Chemistry 30, 2060-2074 (2019).
• Vranish, J.N., Ancona, M.G., Oh, E., Susumu, K., Lasarte-Aragones, G., Breger, J.C., Walper, S.A., Medintz, I.L.   Enhancing Coupled Enzymatic Activity by Colocalization on Nanoparticle Surfaces: Kinetic Evidence for Directed Channeling of Intermediates.  ACS Nano 12, 7911-7926 (2018).
• Breger, J.C., Ancona, M.G., Walper, S.A., Oh, E., Susumu, K., Stewart, M.H., Deschamps, J.R., Medintz, I.L. Understanding How Nanoparticle Attachment Enhances Phosphotriesterase Kinetic Efficiency. ACS Nano 8, 8491-8503 (2015).

Point of Contact:

Igor L. Medintz PhD (ST)

Senior Scientist for Biosensors and Biomaterials

Center for Bio/Molecular Science and Engineering 

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Code 6907 

Washington D.C., 20375 USA

Email: Igor.medintz@nrl.navy.mil