A belated update:

Dr Rachel Currier joined the lab on August 19th to work on the project outlined below. Rachel has a diverse background in molecular parasitology and snake venom biology, including high-throughput approaches, gained during MSc and PhD study at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

There is currently a vacancy for a post-doctoral research fellow in my lab – funded for three years by the Medical Research Council (further details and how to apply can be found on the LSHTM jobs site) – closing date for applications: 24th May, 2013.

The aim of the project is to characterise the determinants of human serum efficacy in Trypanosoma brucei, specifically looking at uptake, intracellular transport and activation of the lytic factor(s). This will employ a similar approach to that used to identify the efficacy determinants of the five anti-HAT drugs published in 2012 (Alsford et al, 2012; see also, Current Research and recent reviews in Parasitology and Trends in Parasitology).

The successful applicant will need a strong background in molecular and cellular biology, as well as the ability to develop novel assays to assess the function of proteins identified using our high throughput RNAi phenotyping approach. A keen interest in host-parasite interactions, and knowledge and experience of high througput genomic and proteomic approaches would also be an advantage.