Open Postdoctoral position, faculty mentor Stephen Hinshaw

The Hinshaw Lab at Stanford is recruiting postdoctoral fellows. We operate at the interface between structural and chemical biology. Our mission is to understand and reprogram protein assemblies that control chromosome segregation and behavior. Applicants with expertise in structural biology or chemical biology are strongly encouraged to apply.

Lab overview:

The Hinshaw Lab uses cryo-electron microscopy, chemical biology, and genetics to study and manipulate the protein assemblies that govern chromosome segregation.

Cell Division

We study the biochemical logic that ensures high-fidelity chromosome segregation during mitosis. The key molecular components are known, but how they are assembled, regulated, and coordinated in space and time is still unclear. We have developed new tools to address these questions, and we are determining how stable microtubule attachment is restricted to a single locus on each human chromosome.

Hinshaw, S., Quan, Y., Cai, J., Zhou, A., & Zhou, H. (2023). Multi-site phosphorylation of yeast Mif2/CENP-C promotes inner kinetochore assembly. Current Biology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.01.012

Drug Discovery: New Therapeutic Mechanisms

In parallel, we use structural biology as a foundation for discovering new therapeutic mechanisms. Our work focuses on using chemically induced proximity to activate unexpected new pharmacology. These concepts are described in greater detail here:

Hinshaw, S., Banik, S., & Gray, N. (2025). Generating Surprisingly Powerful Pharmacology from Chemically Induced Protein Interactions. Accounts of Chemical Research. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.accounts.5c00225

Specific postdoctoral projects may include:

• Reconstitution and cryo-EM of kinetochore regulation modules

• Mechanistic studies of phosphorylation-dependent assembly pathways

• Collaborative discovery of small molecules that disrupt chromosome structure

Academic environment:

Stanford University provides a highly stimulating scientific environment that fosters collaborations and the exchange of ideas within and across disciplines. The Molecular & Cellular Physiology Department offers a world-class scientific environment and supports postdoctoral scholars throughout their postdoc with mentoring and training programs, seminar series, and annual retreats. We are a new lab committed to mentorship and collaboration, both within the lab and with our colleagues at Stanford.