Postdoctoral Research Associate in Molecular Biosciences

EURAXESS Ireland; North East; Híbrido; GBP 42.000 - 54.000; Jornada completa

Descripción de la vacante

Durham University’s Biosciences Department seeks a Postdoctoral researcher to join the Cann group and work on post-mortem nutrient recycling in bacteria.

Using transcriptomics, metabolomics, and genetics with large-scale E. coli mutant collections, you will identify gene products active after death and their role in nutrient acquisition, collaborating with a major interdisciplinary consortium across Durham, Edinburgh, Oxford and Cambridge.

Descripción del empleo

Organisation/Company DURHAM UNIVERSITY Research Field Biological sciences Researcher Profile Recognised Researcher (R2) Established Researcher (R3) Application Deadline 28 Nov 2026 - 00:00 (UTC) Country United Kingdom Type of Contract Other Job Status Full-time Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

The Role and Department

Biosciences is one of the very best departments in the UK (2nd Guardian 2027, 4th Complete University Guide 2027) and it has an outstanding reputation for excellence in teaching, research, and the employability of our students. The department provides a dynamic and interdisciplinary research environment, with the Cann group located within bespoke laboratories for interdisciplinary work at the biology-chemistry interface

The Role

Death is ubiquitous in biology and fundamentally important to life. Across ecosystems, nutrients locked within dead organisms are recycled and reused to support the growth of new life. Yet not all nutrients are equally valuable. Some biomolecules can be used immediately, whereas others require substantial processing before they can be assimilated.

This raises a fundamental question: have organisms evolved mechanisms that continue to function after death, transforming cellular material into forms that other organisms can more readily reuse?

Our recent work identified the bacterial Lon protease as one such mechanism, demonstrating that cellular proteins can continue to be degraded after death into fragments readily taken up by neighbouring cells ( ). We now hypothesise that this phenomenon is widespread and that many bacterial enzymes possess dual functions: roles in the physiology of living cells and previously unrecognised post-mortem activities that promote nutrient recycling.

To test this hypothesis, the successful candidate will combine transcriptomics, metabolomics, genetics and large-scale Escherichia coli mutant collections to identify gene products that function after death and determine how they contribute to nutrient acquisition by living bacteria. The project will combine experimental microbiology with systems-level approaches to uncover the molecular mechanisms linking death to nutrient recycling. The work will provide fundamental insights into how bacterial communities recycle nutrients and how post-mortem biochemical processes shape ecosystem function.

The postdoctoral researcher will be based in the laboratory of Professor Martin Cann in the Department of Biosciences at Durham University and will be part of a major interdisciplinary consortium involving researchers at Durham, Edinburgh, Oxford and Cambridge. Together, the consortium seeks to establish a new understanding of death as an active biological process that shapes ecosystems through nutrient recycling.