Postdoctoral Fellow, Intracellular Signaling in Neurodegeneration and Regeneration

Postdoctoral Positions in Neuroscience

Following recent additional federal funding, the Thomas Lab at Temple University School of Medicine is seeking talented and motivated postdoctoral researchers to join our team focusing on the control of intracellular signaling in nervous system health and disease. We are particularly interested in mechanisms that control the balance between maintenance and degeneration of neuronal axons, and in the development of myelinating cells of the CNS and PNS. We address these questions at multiple levels, combining in vitro enzymatic assays, primary cultures of neurons and oligodendrocytes and in vivo mouse genetic and viral-mediated approaches. More details are available at www.thomaslab.org. Please also see our recent publications and preprints, including:

Li F, Lo TY, Miles L, Wang Q, Noristani HN, Li D, Niu J, Trombley S, Goldshteyn JI, Wang C, Wang S, Qiu J, Pogoda K, Mandal K, Brewster M, Rompolas P, He Y, Janmey PA, Thomas GM, Li S, Song Y (2021). The Atr-Chek1 pathway inhibits axon regeneration in response to Piezo-dependent mechanosensation. Nat Commun, 2021. 12(1): p. 3845.

Niu J*, Sanders SS*, Jeong HK*, Holland SM, Sun Y, Collura KM, Hernandez LM, Huang H, Hayden MR, Smith GM, Hu Y, Jin Y, Thomas GM (2020). Coupled Control of Distal Axon Integrity and Somal Responses to Axonal Damage by the Palmitoyl Acyltransferase ZDHHC17. Cell Reports 33:108635. *equal contribution

Collura KM, Niu J, Sanders SS, Montersino A, Holland SM, Thomas GM (2020). The palmitoyl acyltransferases ZDHHC5 and ZDHHC8 are uniquely present in DRG axons and control retrograde signaling via the Gp130/JAK/STAT3 pathway. J. Biol. Chem. 295, 15427-15437.

Sanders SS†, Hernandez LM, Soh H, Karnam S, Walikonis RS, Tzingounis AV, Thomas GM† (2020). The palmitoyl acyltransferase ZDHHC14 controls Kv1-family potassium channel clustering at the axon initial segment. ELife Nov 13;9 :e56058. doi: 10.7554/eLife.56058.  †:co-corresponding authors.

Hernandez LM, Montersino A, Niu J, Guo S, Thomas GM. JAK1 palmitoylation by ZDHHC3/7 is Essential for Neuropoietic Cytokine Signaling and DRG Neuron Survival. BioRxiv doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.16.385971.

Niu J, Holland SM, Ketschek A, Collura KM, Hayashi T, Gallo G, Thomas GM. Palmitoylation Couples DLK to JNK3 to Facilitate Pro-degenerative Axon-to-Soma Signaling. BioRxiv doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.17.387191

Applicants should have a Ph.D. in Neuroscience, Cell Biology, Biochemistry or a related field, or should expect to obtain one in the near future. A strong record of publication and presentation of primary research is highly recommended. Preference will be given to applicants with a background in primary culture or in using vivo viral or genetic approaches. Please send a brief statement of research interests, a current CV and contact information for 3-4 references to Dr. Gareth Thomas (gareth.thomas@temple.edu).

The Thomas Lab has a strong record of mentoring trainees, with multiple Postdoctoral Fellows going on to run successful labs of their own. Temple University is an EEO/AA employer and strongly encourages applications from women and minorities.  Further information is available at http://www.medschool.temple.edu/ and https://medicine.temple.edu/departments-centers/basic-science-departments/department-neural-sciences