Post-doc in the field of Biological Physics

Umeå University - with its 29,000 students and over 4,000 employees - is an organisation in constant change and development.Umeå University conducts groundbreaking research within several areas - several in which we are among the best in the world - within others regarded as the leaders in Sweden.We are one of Sweden's largest providers of education and offer a broad and attractive range of courses and programmes.Our campus constitutes an inspiring environment for everyone that studies and works here.We wish to co-operate with companies and organisations throughout the Umeå region and all over the world.Post-doc in the field of Biological Physics - Investigations of Biomechanical and Biophysical Properties of Bacterial Pili using Optical Tweezers The Department of Physics has a staff of approximately 90 people.Among them are 12 professors, 28 lecturers, 10 technical/administrative staff, and about 40 PhD students and post docs.The department is involved in undergraduate and graduate education, and research.Active research areas include organic electronics, photonics, condensed matter physics, and several branches of theoretical physics.We are now accepting applications for a one-year post-doc position in the field of Biological Physics, in particular Investigations of Biomechanical and Biophysical Properties of Bacterial Pili using Optical Tweezers.The successful applicant will be active at the Optical Tweezers Centre at the Department of Physics.The ongoing activity at this center has, during the last years, gained a leading role regarding investigations of bacterial adhesion processes using force measuring optical tweezers. The position is aimed towards extended studies in the field, partly expanding the research to new areas.The project will be aimed towards studies of biomechanical/biophysical properties of bacterial adhesion organelles (pili) expressed predominantly by uropathogenic E. coli, but also other types of fimbriae (e.g.those of amyloid-type).Some focus should be given to multipili-attachment of bacteria.The position can also include further development of optical tweezers for force measuring applications. The research is interdisciplinary, requiring basic knowledge in such disparate fields as physics, chemistry, biological physics, biochemistry, and microbiology.The successful applicant should therefore have skills/experience in as many of these fields as possible, including optical tweezers instrumentation.The candidate should have excellent programming skills and be able to work independently but also as part of the research group and should speak English fluently. To qualify for the position you should have a PhD degree or equivalent, preferably not more than three years old. More information about the ongoing activity can be found at http://www.phys.umu.se/exphys/OpticalTweezers/Open_Pos.htm. Applications will be discarded or, if the applicant so wishes, returned two years after the position is filled.Documents sent electronically should be in MS Word or PDF format.