Researcher position at the University of Cambridge, UK

We are pleased to advertise a post for a Research Assistant or Associate to study the composition and role of tricellular adherens junctions in epithelial morphogenesis in Prof. Bénédicte Sanson’s group.

We have discovered the first known resident component of tricellular adherens junctions (tAJs) in the fruit fly Drosophila, the transmembrane adhesion molecule Sidekick (Sdk) [1,2]. Sdk, and thus tAJs, have been shown to be important in various aspects of epithelial morphogenesis in several tissues in Drosophila. We propose here to elucidate how Sdk localises at tAJs and to understand better Sdk’s role in facilitating cell rearrangements during the extension of the main body axis in fly embryos. Approaches for the project will include molecular dissection of Sdk, optogenetics and super-resolution microscopy, the latter in collaboration with Prof. Daniel St Johnston (Gurdon Institute) and the Cambridge Advanced Imaging Centre. There will also be an opportunity to collaborate with Dr Clare Buckley (PDN) to address the conservation of this epithelial role of Sdk in vertebrates, in the zebrafish model.

The approaches developed for this project will complement and synergise with existing approaches in the lab, including Drosophila genetics, advanced live imaging, computational analysis of cell behaviours and mathematical modelling.

We will consider applicants at either Research Assistant or Research Associate level. At Research Assistant level, this is an opportunity for a recent graduate to gain research experience. At Research Associate level, this is an opportunity for a motivated researcher with expertise in molecular biology and imaging to join a multi-disciplinary team.

The post is available for an immediate start with funding for the project to end of September 2023 in the first instance.

[1] Lye CM, Naylor HW, Sanson B. (2014) Subcellular localisations of the CPTI collection of YFP-tagged proteins in Drosophila embryos. Development. doi: 10.1242/dev.111310.

[2] Finegan TM, Hervieux N, Nestor-Bergmann A, Fletcher AG, Blanchard GB, Sanson B. (2019) The tricellular vertex-specific adhesion molecule Sidekick facilitates polarised cell intercalation during Drosophila axis extension. PLoS Biol. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000522.