Proteostasis in the cell is maintained by efficient degradation of damaged proteins which are occasionally produced by incorrect translation, impaired folding during synthesis, genetic mutations or by other environmentally induced damage such as oxidative stress.
One of the major regulation mechanisms of proteostasis involves the posttranslational modifications of proteins by polypeptide modifiers such as ubiquitin and family members known as ubiquitin-like (UBL) proteins. Nedd8 is the closer homologue of ubiquitin.
The best-characterized substrates of neddylation are the cullin subunits of Cullin-RING ligases (CRLs), which control many important biological processes through promoting ubiquitylation and subsequent degradation of a variety of key regulatory proteins. The neddylation pathway plays a role in multiple human cancers, providing sound rationale for its targeting as an attractive anticancer therapeutic strategy. Our lab interest is to investigate the link between ROS (oxygen-derived reactive species) defense mechanisms and NEDD8-related pathways
The research project proposed herein is located at the laboratory of Dr. Elah Pick, at the unique Oranim Biology off-campus of the University of Haifa in Tivon, Israel.
The project aims to investigate the molecular biology of Nedd8 during extrinsic and intrinsic cellular stresses. We are looking for highly motivated PhD and postdoctoral fellows with knowledge in one or more of these areas: – enzymology – Protein purification – Protein detection methods – Molecular biology – the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway – approaching budding yeast or another fungi as a model system – mammalian tissue culture
Candidates should have a good command and oral written English, excellent communication skills and motivation. Application (CV, cover letter, contact information and three referees) should be sent to elahpic@research.haifa.ac.il
Contact
Elah Pick, Ph.D
Head of the CSN and PROTEOSTASIS lab.
The Klein Center for Molecular and Environmental Biology
Department of Biology
University of Haifa, at Oranim
36006 Tivon, Israel
e-mail: elahpic@research.haifa.ac.il