Job ID: 100310
PhD position: Calcium channels in congenital stationary night blindness
Position: Ph.D. Student
Deadline: 19 February 2023
City: Innsbruck
Country: Austria
Institution: University of Innsbruck
Department:
Description:
Photoreceptors are morphologically and physiological highly specialized light sensing cells of the retina where sustained release of glutamate from ribbon synapses is calcium dependent and L-type calcium channels (LTCC) serve as the predominant source for Ca2+ entry. Mutations in the gene encoding Cav1.4 LTCCs were identified among patients diagnosed with congenital night blindness type 2 (OMIM: 30071). Truncating mutations in the C-terminus of Cav1.4 LTCCs are in the focus of this project because they provide also insight into an intrinsic modulatory mechanism that is exclusively found in Cav1.4 LTCCs (PMID 16921373). Ongoing work in the lab further investigates the pharmaco-therapeutic potential of retinal LTCCs.
Methods: Immunohistochemical analyses of mutant retinas; viral and non-viral gene-therapy applied by subretinal injections.
References: Singh et al. (2006) Nature Neuroscience; Burtscher et al. (2014) Biochim Biophys Acta; Pangrsic et al. (2018) Physiol Reviews (Review); Zanetti et al. (2021) Scientific Reports; Nguyen et al. (2022) Appl Mater Interfaces.
Salary: According to the rates of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) for PhD students plus travel funds for international scientific meetings.
We offer an international research environment, state-of-the art immunohistochemical, electrophysiological and molecular biological techniques. The project work will make use of well-established techniques in our lab, including molecular biology, immunohistochemistry, viral vectors, cell culture and transfections.
Contact: Please send your application including a short letter of motivation, your CV and, if available, a reference letter to alexandra.koschak@uibk.ac.at; University of Innsbruck, Institute of Pharmacy, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Austria.