Postdoctoral Scholar Structural Vaccinology

University of South Florida • Tampa, FL

2d

About The Position

The Sather Laboratory at the University of South Florida (USF) is seeking a
highly motivated Postdoctoral Scholar to join an NIH-funded multi-disciplinary
research team focused on developing a universal malaria transmission-blocking
vaccine (TBV). This project aims to elicit species-transcending immunity against
both Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) and Plasmodium vivax (Pv) by targeting highly
conserved elements within two novel vaccine candidates. The selected fellow will
play a critical role in structure-guided vaccine design, leveraging structural
biology and computational modeling to iteratively optimize vaccine antigens.

Applicants must submit a complete application packet as one combined PDF
document, which includes a cover letter and curriculum vitae. Applications that
are incomplete or missing required materials will not be considered.

The researcher will be responsible for defining the molecular interactions
between broad, potent transmission-blocking monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and
their cognate antigens at an atomic level. This work will integrate cues from
vaccine-induced and naturally acquired human immunity to create a comprehensive
antigenic map to guide the production of next-generation immunogens. Major
research activities will include:

Responsibilities

• Help determine high-resolution structures of vaccine candidate antigens by X-ray crystallography and/or CryoEM.
• Computationally designing and modeling optimized antigens with improved stability, antigenicity, and immunogenicity using software such as Alphafold, Rosetta, MOE, or MPNN.
• Determining the structure of antigens in complex with monoclonal antibodies to delineate epitopes and guide iterative stabilization of the immunogens.
• Characterizing the biophysical properties of modified antigens, including thermostability and binding kinetics via biolayer interferometry (BLI).
• Developing and evaluating nanoparticle-based immunogens (e.g., ferritin or lumazine synthase) for multimeric display of optimized antigens.

Benefits

• first-class benefits package includes medical, dental and life insurance plans, retirement plan options, employee and dependent tuition programs, generous leave, and hundreds of employee perks and discounts

What This Job Offers

• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees