Postdoctoral Fellow in Time-resolved and Room-temperature Crystallography

Your tasks ##

You will work at the new PXI-VESPA endstation and the other SLS MX beamlines, in close collaboration with beamline scientists, detector and software experts.

• Implement and run time-resolved experiments: substrate / ligand droplet mixing with a picolitre injector and microsecond pump-probe experiments (laser-induced temperature jump, photocaged compounds) using the JUNGFRAU detector 
• Apply these methods to dynamic structural enzymology to capture reaction intermediates and conformational changes 
• Establish serial synchrotron crystallography SSX workflows on cryo-compatible fixed-target chips (e.g. IMISX, MISP-chip) for dynamic studies 
• Characterise X-ray-induced heating and radiation damage at room temperature on micro- to millisecond time scales and derive data-collection protocols 
• Publish results in peer-reviewed journals, present them at international conferences and support external users and collaborators

Your profile ##

• PhD degree in structural biology, biophysics, biochemistry, chemistry, physics or a related field 
• Hands-on experience in macromolecular crystallography, from X-ray data collection and processing to structure determination and refinement 
• Experience in serial and/or time-resolved crystallography at synchrotrons or XFELs 
• Strong interest in method and instrumentation development and enjoyment of working in an interdisciplinary team at a large-scale research facility 
• Very good written and spoken English 
• Desirable: experience with protein production and (micro)crystallisation, reaction initiation (mixing, laser pump-probe, T-jump) or enzyme kinetics 
• Desirable: programming skills (e.g. Python) and experience with serial data-processing software (e.g. CrystFEL, XDS) or radiation-damage studies

We offer ##

Our institute is based on interdisciplinary, innovative and dynamic collaboration. In addition to a systematic induction, you will benefit from individual development opportunities and our pronounced culture of further education. We support you with modern employment conditions and on-site facilities to help you reconcile work with family life or personal interests.

The position is limited to 2 years, with the option of a 1 year extension. Starting date: by agreement.

For further information, please contact Dr Guillaume Gotthard, phone +41 56 310 40 13 or Dr Meitian Wang, phone +41 56 310 41 75. 

We look forward to receiving your online application, including a list of publications and contact details of two referees, by 10 January 2027 for the position as a Postdoctoral Fellow (index no. 6121-29365).

Paul Scherrer Institute, People & Culture, Mariusz Prus, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland