Subject: postdoctoral position

From: [email-masked] ("Paul T. Magee")
Date: 22 May 1995 18:42:08 -0700

Post -Doctoral Position Available

A position is available at the University of Minnesota to study the 
mechanism of karyotypic rearrangements in Candida albicans.  The position 
is available immediately and pays $23000 to $26000, depending on the
 level of experience.  Funding is guaranteed for three years. 
Qualifications include experience with plasmid construction, mapping, 
and fungal genetics.  The postdoc will be part of a larger group engaged
in preparing a detailed genetic map of Candida albicans.  The University
of Minnesota is located in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul,
routinely chosen as one of the top twenty-five places to live in the US. 

Candida albicans is the single most important human fungal pathogen.  
A diploid as usually isolated, it has no known sexual cycle.  It infects 
immunosuppressed patients ranging from AIDS sufferers to transplant 
recipients.  In most of these patients it leads to significant morbidity 
or mortality.  In healthy people, it exists as a commensal.  The 
mechanisms of pathogenesis are not well understood.  No virulence factors 
have been unequivocally identified, although its ability to grow both as 
a yeast and as a filamentous fungus may be important.

This opportunistic pathogen seems to undergo karyotypic rearrangements with 
a relatively high frequency.  Physical mapping of several strains has 
suggested that translocations tend to occur at specific points, at or near 
SfiI restriction sites.  It seems likely that the structure of these sites 
is related to their role as preferred translocation points.

Detailed physical mapping of these translocation sites is underway.  A 
skilled molecular biologist is needed to elucidate the complete structure 
of several of these sites.  Once the structure is established, we will 
analyze the mechanism of translocation by constructing strains in which 
translocations can be selected and by determining the structural and 
genetic requirements for an elevated level of translocation.

For further information, email me or call me.

P.T. Magee

Department of Genetics and Cell Biology
University of Minnesota
St. Paul, MN 55108

[email-masked]
(612) 624.2244