The Australian Infectious Disease Research Centre (AID) was established to link molecular microbiological and clinical expertise and to interconnect the various Schools and Institutes at the University of Queensland and at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research through collaboration and technology sharing. AID comprises over 80 research and clinical groups, and Prof Khromykh is the Deputy Director of AID. The research groups from the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences (SCMB) represent the core of AID. The SCMB includes over 50 academic staff who are widely published internationally and have extensive research backgrounds.
The Postdoctoral Research Fellow will work in the laboratory of Prof Alexander Khromykh on the new NHMRC-funded project to study the role of flavivirus-encoded non-coding subgenomic RNA (sfRNA) in virus replication and virus-host interactions. The project stems from the original exciting discovery in the Prof Khromykh's laboratory of the cellular mechanism of sfRNA generation and its role in the West Nile virus pathogenesis (published in Cell:Host and Microbe) and further demonstration of the functions of sfRNA in the evasion of host anti-viral response (published in the Journal of Virology), inhibition of cellular mRNA degradation (recently published online in RNA), and inhibition of RNAi pathway (recently published online in the Journal of Virology). The postdoctoral researcher will be involved in elucidating detailed mechanisms of sfRNA involvement in virus replication as well as in investigating how various functions of sfRNA in virus replication, modulating cellular pro!
cesses, and anti-viral response are linked to facilitate viral pathogenesis. The project requires strong molecular virology, RNA biochemistry and cell biology skills.
The applicant should hold a PhD or to have a PhD thesis submitted or very near to submission in the areas of molecular virology, RNA biochemistry, and/or cell biology. Extensive experience in molecular biology techniques and in particularly in RNA biogenesis and biochemistry and in cell biology is critical. Also highly desirable is the experience in working with non-coding RNAs. The applicant should have the ability to plan, execute and interpret experiments independently; the ability to work collaboratively with colleagues; high level inter-personal and communication skills; and aptitude for research as demonstrated by 4-5 publications in high quality international journals.
This is a full-time, fixed appointment at Research Academic Level A (ARA05 or ARA06 dependant on conferral of PhD) for one year with possibility of renewal subject to satisfactory performance. The remuneration package will be in the range of $68,081 to $70,676 p.a., plus employer superannuation contributions of 17% (total package will be in the range of $79,654 to $82,690 p.a).
Alexander Khromykh
a.khromykh@uq.edu.au
University of Queensland
Brisbane, Australia
Fully funded 3 year PhD studentship in Bioinformatics (London SE1 9RT, United Kingdom)