The project is concerned with the central recognition event of the cellular arm of adaptive immunity. Here, the T cell receptor recognizes the peptide-MHC complex, eventually giving rise to T cell activation. The recognition event is characterized by conformational dynamics of all three components and capturing distinct states and obtaining structures of the trimolecular complex is highly desirable in order to understand the specificity of the interaction.

In this project you will use X-ray crystallography, electron microscopy and NMR spectroscopy to delineate the role of the structure and dynamics of immunologically relevant TCR-pMHC complexes. Correlations to disease-relevant settings will be made in collaborative work. As such, the project is embedded in the DFG-funded collaborative research consortium TRR186 (https://www.trr186.de/).

Candidates are expected to have a strong experimental background in protein biochemistry and a solid educational training in structural biology. Excellent academic achievements are required.

Applications should comprise a motivation letter, a CV, study records and the contact addresses of two referees.

Please send your application to: christian.freund@fu-berlin.de and ahurtadopico@zedat.fu-berlin.de.