Postdoctoral Research Associateship: Optical Nanomaterials/Biophysics/Anti-icing

 A postdoctoral research position is available immediately in the Optical Sciences Division at the US Naval Research Laboratory, Washington DC (http://www.nrl.navy.mil/). The project, at the intersection of nanomaterials and biotechnology, is aimed at the development of anti-icing nanomaterial for the control of ice crystallization during cooling and warming. The successful candidate will possess a multidisciplinary skill set including proficiency in the following: nanomaterials and their functionalization experience (is desired but not required), optical measurements (absorption, fluorescence, microscopy), biophysics or theory, experimental/theoretical experience in anti-icing and ice-binding molecules are desired. A strong background and documented experience in biophysics or nanobiotechnology are essential. Our laboratory utilizes various nanomaterials (quantum dots, gold nanoparticles, magnetic nanoparticles), DNA, protein and peptide engineering, energy transfer, electron transfer and energy-heat conversion to understand how to implement functional nanomaterials for the purposes of controlling ice formation. This position presents an opportunity to work with a highly interdisciplinary group to create new types of nanomaterial-based study including cell biology, protein engineering and chemical synthesis as well as physics. This position is outside the NIH.

 The Naval Research Laboratory is the Department of Defense’s corporate laboratory for the Navy and Marine Corps. The Optical Sciences Division works at the interface of optics, photonic materials, chemistry and quantum physics to solve critical problems of importance to the Navy and DoD.

Availability: Immediately (no deadline date)

Salary: ~$80k/year with health benefits, conference travel allotment and relocation reimbursement.

Applicants must be either a US citizen or permanent resident/green card holder.

Fellowship is administered by either the National Research Council (NRC, http://sites.nationalacademies.org/pga/rap) or American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE, http://nrl.asee.org/) and the PhD must have been awarded within 5 yrs of the time of application.

 Selected group publications:

1.      Gorshkov K, Susumu K, Chen J, Xu M, Pradhan M, Zhu W, Hu X, Breger JC, Wolak M, Oh E, “Quantum dot-conjugated SARS-CoV-2 spike pseudo-virions enable tracking of angiotensin converting enzyme 2 binding and endocytosis”, ACS Nano, 14, 9, 12234–12247 (2020)

2.      Hastman DA, Melinger JS, Aragonés GL, Cunningham PD, Chiriboga M, Salvato ZJ, Salvato TM, Brown III CW, Mathur D, Medintz IL, Oh E*, and Díaz SA*, “Femtosecond laser pulse excitation of DNA-labeled gold nanoparticles: establishing a quantitative local nanothermometer for biological applications”, ACS Nano, 14, 7, 8570–8583 (2020)

3.      Oh E, Liu R, Nel A, Gemill KB, Bilal M, Cohen Y, Medintz IL, “Meta-analysis of cellular toxicity for cadmium-containing quantum dots”, Nature Nanotechnology, 11, 479–486 (2016)

 Interested and qualified candidates should submit a CV and three references to:

Dr Eunkeu Oh

Research Scientist

US Naval Research Laboratory

Email: Eunkeu.oh@nrl.navy.mil