National Renewable Energy Laboratory – Postdoctoral Researcher
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), located at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Golden, Colorado is the nation’s primary laboratory for research and development of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, is the nation’s primary laboratory for research, development, and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. The NREL mission is to develop renewable energy and energy efficient technologies and practices, advance related science and engineering, and transfer knowledge and innovation to address the nation’s energy and environmental goals.
Job Title: Postdoctoral Researcher – Enzyme Engineering for Deconstructing Plastic Waste
Location CO – Golden
Position Type Postdoc (Fixed Term)
Hours Per Week 40
Basic Qualifications
Must be a recent PhD graduate within the last three years in Biochemistry, Biological Engineering, Chemistry, or a closely related field.
Prefered: Must be a recent PhD graduate within the last three years.
Additional Required Qualifications
- Cloning, expression, and purification of proteins
- Demonstrated experience in enzyme engineering
- Takes initiative to set direction and goals for assigned tasks
- A skilled researcher who applies, on a broad basis, existing theories, principles, and concepts, and is fully competent in all conventional applications of knowledge common to bioengineering and function of work assigned
- Troubleshooting and problem-solving skills
- Ability to deliver high-quality results within aggressive timelines
- Strong record of quality peer-reviewed publications
- Strong safety record
- Demonstrated ability to follow complex standard operating procedures with attention to detail
Preferred Qualifications
Demonstrated experience in enzyme engineering related to plastics degradation
Analytical chemistry experience with HPLC, GC-FID, GC-MS, and/or LC-MS
Annual Salary Range (based on full-time 40 hours per week)
Annual Salary Range: $68,000 – $112,200
The successful candidate will work in the DOE-funded Hybrid Approach to Repurpose Plastics Using Novel Engineered Processes (HARNESS) project to use enzymes to deconstruct polyurethane foams into high value end products. The specific role will require identifying, expressing, purifying, and assaying thermophilic enzyme candidates to the project, developing facile enzymatic assays for enzymatic PU depolymerization, and testing optimized enzymes in solid-state assays. The project will be in collaboration done in close connection with industrial partners and analytical chemists at NREL for assay development.
The successful candidate will utilize biochemical assays to measure degradation of synthetic plastics, conduct directed evolution or structure-guided protein engineering studies to improve plastics-degrading enzymes, and conduct enzyme kinetics assays for interfacial biocatalysis. The ability to conduct laboratory experiments with minimal supervision with the utmost regard to safety is required, as well as the ability to learn new techniques and protocols.
The successful candidate will be able to:
- Work safely and independently in a laboratory setting
- Plan and execute research in collaboration with other researchers
- Communicate scientific results effectively, both in written and oral formats
- Author peer-reviewed publications, and
- Work effectively in a large, multidisciplinary, multi-institutional team of engineers and scientists.
