Postdoctoral Scholar Structural Vaccinology

University of South Florida • Tampa, FL

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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.
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.

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

• Our 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

• Job Type: Full-time
• Education Level: No Education Listed