Master Thesis - Structural Characterisation of the Antiviral Protein IFI6

Your Job:

This thesis specifically deals with the recombinant overexpression, purification and structural characterisation of IF6. The results obtained from this research activity will provide novel insights to the protein function and may provide new targets for antiviral intervention.

Your tasks:
You will support us in investigating the structure of IF6 a pivotal protein with antiviral activities. The goal of this work is to prepare samples for the investigation of the secondary and tertiary structure of the protein IFI6 with a view to understanding the physiological significance of this protein in the pathogenesis of flaviviruses. Since IFI6 is presumably a membrane protein, and our preliminary results show that the expression yield in E. coli is quite low, a suitable expression system for this protein must first be found and optimized. Once this is achieved, various protein reconstitution methods are subsequently to be used to obtain samples for solid-state NMR (ssNMR) and solution NMR techniques or, alternatively, electron microscopy (EM) and X-ray crystallography. The resulting data sets are then being used to determine the IFI6 structure.

Your responsibilities include:

• Recombinant expression of IFI6
  
• Cell-free expression of IFI6 as alternative
  
• Reconstitution of IFI6 in suitable membrane systems (e.g. nanodiscs or lipid vesicles)
  
• Acquisition of structural data and their analysis
  
• Planning, implementation and evaluation of experiments
  
• Presentation of results
  
• Documentation of your results in our electronic laboratory book system

Your Profile:

• Bachelor degree in biology, biochemistry, biotechnology or related fields
  
• Experience in recombinant protein production and purification
  
• Experience with cell-free protein expression is an advantage
  
• Motivation to familiarise yourself with new techniques and software packages
  
• After a detailed instruction, we expect that you will be able to work independently on the project according to your level of education
  
• Social competence, efficiency, accurate work, enjoyment of teamwork and a high level of self-motivation in establishing new experimental procedures and solving scientific problems are also expected

Our Offer:

We work on the very latest issues that impact our society and are offering you the chance to actively help in shaping the change! We support you in your work with:

• Ideal conditions for practical experience alongside your studies
  
• Interdisciplinary collaboration on projects in an international, committed and collegial team
  
• Excellent scientific equipment and the latest technology
  
• Qualified supervision by scientific colleagues
  
• Self-reliant preparation and execution of assigned tasks
  
• A large research campus in a green area, which offers best opportunities for networking with colleagues as well as for sports activities besides work.
  

We welcome applications from people with diverse backgrounds, e. g. in terms of age, gender, disability, sexual orientation / identity, and social, ethnic and religious origin. A diverse and inclusive working environment with equal opportunities in which everyone can realize their potential is important to us.