At the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, the Independent Research Group Receptor Biochemistry invites applications for a

Postdoctoral Researcher Position – N-terminomics and Protease Degradomics (m/f/d) (11/2026)

Your Area of Responsibility

The Question

How does proteolytic regulation control plant plasma-membrane receptor function and plant immune responses?

The plant plasma membrane is a dynamic hub for nutrient uptake, pathogen detection and stress signalling, anchored by surface receptors. In animals, proteolytic cleavage of membrane proteins is a major regulatory mechanism in immunity. In plants, its role remains largely unexplored.

FRONTERA, funded by the European Research Council through an ERC Starting Grant, sets out to close that gap. The project combines chemoproteomics, cell biology, protease biochemistry and genetics, and looks at both sides of the process: the proteases that cut, and the substrates they act on. It is curiosity-driven research with a long view towards crop resilience and sustainable agriculture.

Your Tasks

• You will lead the degradomics side of FRONTERA, establishing terminomics in our system to identify cleaved substrates and map where they are cut.
• Establish and optimise a terminomics workflow for plant samples.
• Identify protease substrates and determine cleavage sites, and follow how processing changes during immune responses.
• Develop the data analysis alongside the wet-lab method, working with our in-house mass spectrometry facility.
• Validate candidate cleavage events biochemically and relate them to immune signalling, in collaboration with the team.
• Co-supervise a doctoral researcher.
• Present and publish your scientific data.

Your Profile

Essential

• A doctoral degree in biochemistry, analytical chemistry, molecular biology, plant science or a closely related field. If your thesis is submitted but not yet defended by the start date, please apply and tell us your timeline.
• Substantial hands-on experience in MS-based proteomics, working independently from sample preparation through to data analysis.
• Interest in mentoring a doctoral researcher.
• Excellent English language skills, written and spoken. German is not required.

Desirable

• Terminomics or degradomics.
• Protease biochemistry.
• Quantitative proteomics with isobaric or metabolic labelling.
• Scripting for proteomics data analysis (R, Python), search engines, downstream statistics.
• Experience in adapting or establishing proteomics workflows for new sample types or questions. Tell us about one in your cover letter.
• Work with plant material.
• Supervision or teaching experience.

Read the second list as a description of the project, not a test. In particular, prior N-terminomics experience is not required. Candidates who would do this job well routinely talk themselves out of applying because they match four points instead of seven. Tell us in your cover letter what you would need to learn.

About Us

The Independent Research Group Receptor Biochemistry, led by Dr. Mariana Schuster, is dedicated to understanding and engineering the molecular decisions that determine whether a plant gets sick, focusing on the proteases deployed by plants and pathogens and the proteins they cut. We are small, international and deliberately interdisciplinary.

People here come from plant science, biochemistry, chemistry and computational backgrounds, and much of the useful thinking happens in the conversations between them.

The IPB is a non-university research institute of the Leibniz Association on the Weinberg Campus of Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, a foundation under public law under the direct supervision of the state of Saxony-Anhalt. Around 200 people work here, including about 40 doctoral researchers, across four scientific departments and two independent research groups.

Research at the IPB aims to understand the (bio)chemical basis of plant resilience and performance in challenging environments related to climate change. The IPB offers excellent research facilities and state-of-the-art infrastructure, including in-house mass spectrometry.

Halle (Saale) is a green, walkable city with a large student population, low living costs by German standards, and fast connections to Leipzig and Berlin.