Open Positions
The interdisciplinary CPB department excels at making discoveries from the atomic level to intact organisms. Our department is built on four thematic pillars: Structural Biology, Biochemistry, Chemical Biology, and Physiology. In addition, the department is physically and organizationally connected to four core facilities (Medical Chemistry, Biophysics, NMR and Proteomics). Other core facilities are available on campus. Focal points of the department are G-protein coupled and hormone receptors, ion channels, neuroendocrinology, electrophysiology, cryo-EM techniques, protein labelling techniques, the homeostasis of pancreas cells, lipids in pathogenesis, signaling in the eye, heart muscle recovery after an infarct, non-coding RNA function, cancer pharmacology, and intracellular imaging.
The department is currently recruiting for the following positions.
The Chemical Biology-focused research groups in CPB cover a variety of exciting research topics. All groups are currently recruiting postdocs.
The lab of Benjamin Barad seeks a postdoctoral scholar to investigate cytoskeletal reorganization during intracellular bacterial infection using cellular cryo-electron tomography. The scholar will receive training in sample preparation, tilt series collection, and data analysis for cryo-electron tomography, as well as development of computational tools for the quantitative analysis of membrane and filament organization. In addition to cryo-electron tomography, the project will incorporate correlative cryo-fluorescence microscopy as well as live-cell fluorescence microscopy. (barad@ohsu.edu; https://baradlab.com/; @tomo.science)
The lab of Kimberly Beatty uses fluorescent probes to study the molecular basis of human diseases. Her lab investigates cellular protein organization across size scales and imaging platforms using novel genetic tags named VIP tags and is currently applied towards studying iron uptake and cancer signalling. In addition, her lab uses chemistry to study enzyme regulation and drug targets in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. (beattyk@ohsu.edu; www.beattylab.com; @beattylab)
The lab of Michael Cohen is interested in the fundamental metabolite NAD+ and its role in the essential post-translation modification known as APD-ribosylation through enzymes called PARPs. The lab has developed a suite of chemical biology approaches - including the “bump-hole” method - to study how ADP-ribosylation regulates proteins. Additionally, the Cohen lab is well known for the synthesis of isoform-specific inhibitors, which are important tools for probing the function of PARPs in cells and animals. (cohenmic@ohsu.edu; cohenlabohsu.com; @MichaelNADbio)
The lab of James Frank centers around cannabinoid receptors and how they are activated by their endogenous lipid ligands to affect biomolecule secretion in the brain and in the pancreas. The lab builds and evaluates new small molecule-based photoactivatable tools using chemistry, molecular biology, imaging, whole-cell electrophysiology, and in vivo behavioural experiments. (frankja@ohsu.edu, www.frank-lab.com, @jF-lab)
The lab of Braden Lobingier studies drug action at opioid and dopamine receptors. The Lobingier lab specializes in combining chemical biology with proteomic and genomic techniques to identify the mechanisms of these drug receptors. In addition, his lab has a parallel research program focused on genes which function at the endosome, are necessary for cell health, and when mutated drive neurodegenerative diseases. (lobingib@ohsu.edu; www.lobingierlab.com)
The lab of Carsten Schultz currently works on pancreatic extracellular signaling, protease activity as a marker for cancer and lung inflammation, the development of novel lipid tools to analyse lipid-interactomes in virus-infected cells and patients and intracellular lipid metabolism and trafficking. The lab uses a combination of organic chemistry, molecular biology and live-cell and tissue slice imaging. (schulcar@ohsu.edu)
The lab of Francis Valiyaveetil is interested in the molecular structure and function of ion channels and transporters. The lab combines structural with functional studies and investigates protein dynamics using fluorescence spectroscopy. (valiyave@ohsu.edu)
The labs of Xiangshu Xiao and Bingbing Li focus on medicinal chemistry and pharmacology applied to cancer research, in particular clear-cell carcinoma, breast and ovarian cancer. (xiaoxi@ohsu.edu; lab website; lib@ohsu.edu)
For more general information about the Chemical Biology Program or opportunities within CPB, please contact Carsten Schultz (schulcar@ohsu.edu). If you are interested in a particular topic or group, please contact the PI directly.
The Barad lab seeks a curious research assistant to support investigations into membrane reorganization during bacterial infection using cryo-electron tomography inside mammalian cells. In this role, the research assistant will be performing mammalian cell culture and performing bacterial infections in preparation for light microscopy and electron microscopy experiments, freezing and clipping electron microscopy grids, and performing cryo-light microscopy and focused ion beam milling to prepare thin vitrified samples for tomography. Interested applicants may also learn computational approaches for processing and analyzing 3D tomographic data with the goal of understanding protein structure as well as cellular organization in greater detail. (barad@ohsu.edu; https://baradlab.com/; @tomo.science).