Position Description

The Role
The Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) seeks a Ph.D.-level scientist to join the Flexible Macromolecular Crystallography (FlexX) station supporting a vibrant structural biology community. The role blends (1) expert user support for routine and advanced macromolecular crystallography (MX) and (2) collaborative development of new X-ray diffraction capabilities for questions that push beyond standard methods.

Recent FlexX advances—now available to users and still being refined—include fixed-target serial crystallography, support for diffuse scattering experiments, and a diamond anvil cell (DAC) designed for MX.

Priority application areas include:

• Ambient-temperature crystallography, including serial approaches
• High-pressure methods (DAC and high-pressure cryocooling), especially to trap intermediates in crystallo
• Extreme biology conditions (e.g., anoxic, high/low salinity or pH, specific metals)
• Diffuse scattering to probe conformational ensembles and molecular motions
• Future development of time-resolved and dynamic MX, building on existing capabilities and collaborative partnerships

The scientist will also occasionally assist at the MacCHESS BioSAXS station and contribute to cross-beamline user support and methods development.

This position is jointly funded by two CHESS sub-facilities, the NSF-funded Center for High-Energy X-ray Sciences at CHESS (CHEXS, an NSF-supported program) and the Macromolecular Diffraction Facility of the Cornell High-Energy Synchrotron Source (MacCHESS, an NIH-supported National Resource) and will involve collaborative projects and beamline/user support across both programs.

Responsibilities

• Support an active user community, including in-person and remote users from NSF, NIH, Industry and Academia, who are engaged in employing x-ray techniques to characterize a variety of biological systems.
• Creatively contribute to the development of new MX synchrotron methods and techniques, from experimental hardware to data reduction and analysis required by users.
• Build and maintain effective working relationships with multiple stakeholders, including facility users, funding agencies, and collaborators at other institutions. This includes promoting and disseminating MacCHESS/CHEXS developments and capabilities to the structural biology community.
• Maintain an individual record of scholarship and contribute to the scholarly output of the lab through internal research highlights, publications in peer reviewed journals, grant and report writing, and presentations at national and international conferences.
• Mentor students and postdoctoral researchers in synchrotron and MX techniques.

Essential Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent in structural biology, biophysics, chemistry, or a related field and 4-5 years post-PhD experience.
• Interest and ability to work in a multidisciplinary research environment.
• Solid record of scientific publications and achievement.
• Passion for contributing to an environment that builds individual and organizational effectiveness.
• Ability to communicate effectively with technical experts, operations staff, and researchers at all levels, including students, postdocs, interns, and facility users.
• Experience with complex experimental instrumentation.
• Proficiency in science communication, written and oral, formal and informal.

• Cover letter
• Curriculum vitae
• List of publications
• Statement of Research summarizing examples of recent research, and areas of interest for future work, especially involving synchrotron radiation and MX science and/or high-pressure biology
• Three letters of recommendation