Institut für Chemie
PhD Student Position (Enzyme engineering with genetic code expansion) 80 %
Start of employment Upon agreement, ideally between June 2025 and January 2026A PhD project is available in the group of Prof. Dr. Alexandria (Ali) Deliz Liang in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Zurich (Switzerland). Our laboratory works on advanced methods in protein engineering including genetic code expansion. Currently, we are seeking a highly motivated PhD student to work on metalloenzyme engineering with genetic code expansion.
Your responsibilities
The successful candidate will take on responsibilities that approximately follow the experimental workflow below, as well as other PhD program duties.
Expression, purification, and activity characterization for our target enzyme:
Expression, purification, and activity characterization for our target enzyme:
- cloning plasmids for protein expression,
- optimizing protein expression and purification methods, and
- develop assays for characterizing enzymatic activity (absorbance, fluorescence, LC-MS).
- synthesizing non-canonical amino acids,
- cloning DNA libraries for aaRS/tRNA (aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase/tRNA) engineering, and
- selection and screening of functional aaRS/tRNA pairs.
- genetic code expansion for semi-rational engineering of our target enzyme and
- directed evolution using classical and computational methods
- application of enzyme activity assays and
- crystallography.
- serving as a teaching assistant for introductory chemistry courses (intro chemistry for majors or for biologists),
- participating in group meetings, departmental seminars, and a student chembio seminar series,
- fulfilling group responsibilities (equipment and organizational responsibilities), and
- completing of the PhD requirements for the chemistry graduate school program.
Your profile
Essential:
- A highly motivated student with an MS degree in biochemistry, chemistry, or related field
- Experience with protein expression, purification, and activity assays
- Enthusiastic about learning and applying new techniques
- Enthusiastic about working on an interdisciplinary research project
- Excellent communications skills in English (spoken and written) are essential
- Conscientious and inclusive working style
- Experience in chemical synthesis,
- Experience in directed evolution, or
- Experience in enzyme engineering.
- computation (e.d. densitity functional theory (DFT), molecular dynamics (MD), or machine learning (ML))
Information on your application
Applicants should prepare a single PDF document that includes the following: i) a cover letter describing previous research and motivation for applying to this position, ii) a detailed curriculum vitae, and iii) the names of two people who can supply reference letters.Please complete the short pre-application questionnaire using the apply button to receive the application link. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until 01 September 2025, so early submission is encouraged.
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Questions about the job
Prof. Dr. Alexandria Deliz Liang Group Leader
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Working at UZH
The University of Zurich, Switzerland's largest university, offers a range of attractive positions in various subject areas and professional fields. With around 10,000 employees and currently 12 professional apprenticeship streams the University offers an inspiring working environment on cutting-edge research and top-class education. Put your talent and skills to work with us. Find out more about UZH as an employer!
More → https://www.uzh.ch/cmsssl/en/explore/work.html
Please apply via our job portal www.jobs.uzh.ch.
The University of Zurich, Switzerland's largest university, offers a range of attractive positions in various subject areas and professional fields. With around 10,000 employees and currently 12 professional apprenticeship streams the University offers an inspiring working environment on cutting-edge research and top-class education. Put your talent and skills to work with us. Find out more about UZH as an employer!
More → https://www.uzh.ch/cmsssl/en/explore/work.html
Please apply via our job portal www.jobs.uzh.ch.
Working at UZH
The University of Zurich, Switzerland's largest university, offers a range of attractive positions in various subject areas and professional fields. With around 10,000 employees and currently 12 professional apprenticeship streams the University offers an inspiring working environment on cutting-edge research and top-class education. Put your talent and skills to work with us. Find out more about UZH as an employer!
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