Scientist – Synthetic/Medicinal Chemistry – CeTPD at University of Dundee

We are seeking a Scientist with research experience in organic synthesis and/or medicinal chemistry to join an industry-academia, multi-disciplinary drug discovery team based in the new Centre for Targeted Protein Degradation (CeTPD) within Dundee’s School of Life Sciences.
The team is engaged in a major! collaboration working on proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTAC) drug discovery between the laboratories of Professor Alessio Ciulli ( http://www.lifesci.dundee.ac.uk/groups/alessio-ciulli) and Boehringer Ingelheim. Our mission is to discover novel small-molecule degraders to treat cancer. The scientist will boost the medicinal chemistry approaches the team are taking to accelerate translation of research in this field and to develop degrader drug candidates. This is a unique opportunity to gain experience in a world-leading industry-style drug discovery within an academic setting.

Your priorities will include:

• Development of new synthetic routes to access project critical compounds.
• Data analysis to inform design of new target molecules and solve project challenges.
• Employing novel chemistries to enable higher throughput and/or novel chemical space for PROTACs.
• Contribution to medicinal chemistry strategy within projects and communication of hypotheses and progress to the wider team.
• Developing team science across the collaboration, working with colleagues across disciplines to enable breakthroughs.

Who we’re looking for:

Required

• The candidate must hold a Ph.D. or have a Masters with demonstrable experience in industry in organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry or a related discipline.
• Outstanding academic and/or industrial track record.
• Strong interpersonal, communication and presentation skills.
• High level of expertise in synthetic organic chemistry and synthetic route design.
• A demonstrated ability to problem-solve within a team environment.

Desirable

• A track record of applying medicinal chemistry principles to optimize lead compounds.
• Experience utilising structure-based drug design approaches.

The Centre for Targeted Protein Degradation (CeTPD) has been created as a first of its kind Centre leading several internationally significant fundamental and translational chemical biology projects in the area of targeted protein degradation. The goal of CeTPD is to innovate a next-generation of small-molecule technology platforms and modalities to advance chemical and biological insights and therapeutic targets related to human diseases. It aspires to openly collaborate with academic, industrial and venture partners, and train and inspire the next generation of research scientists and leaders.

The diversity of our staff and students helps to make the University of Dundee a UK university of choice for undergraduate, postgraduate and distance learning. Family friendly policies, staff networks for BME, Disabled and LGBT staff, membership of Athena SWAN, the ECU Race Equality Charter and Stonewall as well a full range of disability services, create an enjoyable and inclusive place to work.