Resolving glycosylation in Therapeutic Proteins using Advanced X-ray Scattering at ESRF’s BioSWAXS Beamline European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in France

PhD project at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, in collaboration with the University of Southampton. This four-year, co-funded doctorate focuses on resolving glycosylation in therapeutic proteins using advanced X-ray scattering at the BM29 BioSWAXS beamline.

The project tackles a major challenge in structural biology and biopharmaceutical research: glycans are often removed or ignored in standard workflows, even though glycosylation strongly influences receptor binding, immune response, therapeutic efficacy, and vaccine design. The research will develop and validate a computational pipeline that combines glycosylation-state prediction with GlycoShape, ensemble generation with Re-Glyco, and SWAXS-based scoring to infer glycan conformation and occupancy directly from solution scattering data.

You will test the approach on four benchmark glycoprotein systems, including therapeutic antibody fragments, viral envelope immunogens, and IgG Fc glycoforms. These systems have direct relevance to cancer therapeutics, autoimmune disease suppression, antiviral development, biopharmaceutical quality control, and vaccine design.

Training is split between two institutions. At the University of Southampton, you will gain experience in protein production, purification, LC-MS/MS glycan profiling, and computational glycobiology. At the ESRF, you will learn SWAXS data collection, beamline operation, and model fitting, while working within the BM29 BioSAXS beamline team in the MXIS group. The role also offers exposure to the broader international user community and to neighbouring beamlines supporting crystallography and USAXS.

Supervision is provided by Dr Hayden Fisher at ESRF, Dr Elisa Fadda at Southampton, and Prof Ivo Tews at Southampton. The post is ideal for a candidate with a degree enabling PhD enrolment in biochemistry, computational biosciences, biophysics, natural sciences, structural biology, or a closely related area, plus a strong interest in integrative structural biology. Experience in solution scattering, structural biology, protein modelling, or glycobiology is advantageous, and willingness to learn scientific programming such as Python is important. Excellent English and the ability to work across an international, multi-site team are expected.

The position offers competitive compensation and allowances, relocation support to Grenoble, and the chance to contribute to a technically ambitious project with both academic and biopharmaceutical impact.