Reference: ESR4/WIS

The long-term goal of the proposed study is to determine the precise role of TECPR2 in intracellular vesicular trafficking and autophagy, and characterize the link between these processes and hereditary spastic paraparesis (SPG49). Our working hypothesis is that mutations in TECPR2 lead to specific defects in intracellular trafficking and autophagic processes manifested as a specific neuronal malfunction in the patients. The PhD student will combine biochemical and cell biological techniques with a gene-targeting approach to determine TECPR2 functions in cells from healthy and diseased tissue. Specifically, the PhD student will 1) establish an animal model for SPG49 and study the relationship between TECPR2 physiological function and neurodegeneration in vivo; 2) study the role of TECPR2 in axonal trafficking (to determine the link between cellular defects and disease) and in neuronal autophagic processes.

Location: Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Zvulun Elazar
Length of appointment: 36 months (3 years) (another 12 months will be offered to the PhD student recruited at the expense of Prof. Elazar’s Weizmann Institute budget.
Indicative Starting date: May 2018
Type of Contract: temporary
Hours per week: 46 hours per week corresponds to a full time employment contract in Israel

Deadline for application is 9 January 2018  at 23.59 h Brussels time zone gmt.

UPDATE: This vacancy is now closed.

More information about the host laboratory can be found at http://www.weizmann.ac.il/Biomolecular_Sciences/Elazar/