Dr. Wenquan Zou, in the Departments of Pathology and Neurology at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, is seeking outstanding candidates for two postdoctoral fellow positions. Successful candidates must hold a PhD or an equivalent degree in biomedicine or related studies with background in molecular and cellular biology. A successful candidate must have hands-on experience in E. coli recombinant protein production. Applicants with skills of real-time quaking induced conversion (RT-QuIC) and/or serial protein misfolding cyclic amplification (sPMCA) will be a plus. Other research experience in mouse models, primary cell cultures, protein folding, biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology, imaging and other related fields will also be helpful.
The Zou laboratory aims to elucidate the pathogenesis and early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases that are all associated with abnormally misfolded proteins. These diseases include, but not limited to, prion diseases, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Currently, the lab is studying prion disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease, with a wide range of approaches, from in vitro biochemical studies with human tissues, cultured cells, and recombinant proteins to in vivo transmission study with animal models, especially RT-QuIC and sPMCA assays.
The interested candidates can check their recent publications in this area in order to have a better understanding of their research work:
Wang Z, Manca M, Foutz A, Camacho MV, Raymond GJ, Race B, Orru CD, Yuan J, Shen P, Li B, Lang Y, Dang J, Adornato A, Williams K, Maurer NR, Gambetti P, Xu B, Surewicz W, Petersen RB, Dong X, Appleby BS, Caughey B, Cui L, Kong Q, Zou WQ. Early preclinical detection of prions in the skin of prion-infected animals. Nat Commun. 2019 Jan 16;10(1):247. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-08130-9.
Orrú CD, Yuan J, Appleby BS, Li B, Li Y, Winner D, Wang Z, Zhan YA, Rodgers M, Rarick J, Wyza RE, Joshi T, Wang GX, Cohen ML, Zhang S, Groveman BR, Petersen RB, Ironside JW, Quiñones-Mateu ME, Safar JG, Kong Q, Caughey B, Zou WQ. Prion seeding activity and infectivity in skin samples from patients with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Sci Transl Med. 2017 Nov 22;9(417). pii: eaam7785. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aam7785.
Abskharon R, Dang J, Elfarash A, Wang Z, Shen P, Zou LS, Hassan S, Wang F, Fujioka H, Steyaert J, Mulaj M, Surewicz WK, Castilla J, Wohlkonig A, Zou WQ. Soluble polymorphic bank vole prion proteins induced by co-ex
