Postdoctoral Researcher

The Lazzaro Lab at Cornell University is recruiting postdoctoral researchers for a new project on insect Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs).Antimicrobial peptides are ubiquitous in animals and plants, and are particularly abundant in barrier epithelia where they protect against opportunistic bacterial infection. AMPs are the major mechanism for antibacterial immune defense in adult Drosophila melanogaster and other insects. This project will examine the varied roles of distinct D. melanogaster AMPs in fighting a spectrum of bacterial infections, using evolutionary and functional genetic approaches in combination with cell biology and protein biochemistry.We are particularly looking for scientists with expertise and/or interest in any of the following areas: genetics-based experiments to determine the roles of particular Drosophila AMPs in fighting distinct infectionsprotein biochemistry and manipulation to probe AMP functionmicrobiological assay of AMP effects on diverse bacteria, and bacterial responses to those AMPsquantitative genetic analysis of AMP allelic variation in natural populationsmolecular evolutionary and population genetic analysis of AMPs in   D. melanogaster and across the genus DrosophilaInterested candidates should directly contact Prof. Brian Lazzaro at bplazzaro@cornell.edu. Please include a CV and a brief statement of research background and interests.For more details about our work, visit our lab website at https://www.lazzarolab.org