Postdoctoral Researcher in Cheminformatics - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Postdoctoral Researcher in cheminformatics to join an international open science effort in translational medical research. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the ambitious goal of composing a small-molecule chemogenomics library targeting the druggable genome as part of the IMI-funded EUbOPEN project, by developing and applying cheminformatics data mining pipelines and computational techniques. We offer a multi-national and collaborative research environment with partners in academia and the biomedical industry worldwide.

Project

This large-scale project is a collaboration between the Karolinska Institutet, University of Oxford (UK), Goethe University Frankfurt and other partners in EU, UK and globally, funded by the European Union (IMI) and pharmaceutical company partners. EUbOPEN is conducted as an integrated project with the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC). The EUbOPEN organization based at Karolinska Institutet comprises funding for >20 staff members and is expected to grow as additional funding becomes available. Overall, EUbOPEN has activities e.g., in structural and chemical biology, antibody production and characterization as well as functional studies of human proteins in disease-relevant assays. EUbOPEN is funded until April 2025 and the right candidate will have a good chance of extension.

The position is placed within the Research Group of Professor Thomas Helleday. The group is part of the Department of Oncology-Pathology where basic, translational, and clinical research and educational activities related to cancer is carried out. Approximately 300 people from over 40 nations are currently working at the Department, with 36 research groups with various cancer research profiles involved and around 110 PhD students. The Helleday group currently comprises approx. 30 interdisciplinary researchers focusing on the development of novel anti-cancer treatments by targeting vulnerabilities in DNA damage repair and is physically located at the Science for Life Laboratory (SciLifeLab) campus in Solna.

Your mission

A highly skilled and motivated Postdoctoral Researcher in cheminformatics is needed to strengthen our team at the Karolinska Institute. One major objective of the EUbOPEN project is to compose a physical chemogenomics library (CGL) comprising 3-5,000 chemogenomics compounds targeting one-third of the druggable genome, which will enable researchers to unlock novel biology, using an open access approach. Composition of the CGL requires careful selection of suitable ligands, making sure that each target and target family is covered by different modalities and chemotypes where applicable. The CGL compounds are then extensively profiled in biochemical, cell-based, as well as patient-derived cell and organoid-based assays established at KI and other EUbOPEN nodes, thus generating a wealth of data suitable for data mining approaches.

While your main task will be to select these ligands from annotated databases using state-of-the-art data mining approaches, there will be ample opportunities to apply other techniques including machine learning, bioinformatics, chemometrics as well as ligand design to the generated assay data, depending on your profile and interests.

Your profile

 To be eligible for employment as a Postdoctoral Researcher in this project, the applicant must recently have successfully defended her/his doctoral dissertation resulting in a Ph.D. degree in the field of computational or medicinal chemistry with a strong cheminformatics component, optionally with one or two years of postdoctoral experience. You have a passion for hands-on computational chemistry and cheminformatics data mining tasks. You are a flexible, creative problem solver who likes to work collaboratively as well as independently with production, analysis and reporting of data to the project team.

Experience from mining databases such as ChEMBL, IUPHAR GtoPdb or PubChem using advanced data analysis workflows, as well as analyzing structure-activity data is a requirement. You are familiar with state-of-the-art software and modeling packages to perform such tasks, both in Windows and Linux environments. Hands-on experience from using KNIME, DataWarrior, JChem, Schrödinger Suite or similar tools, as well as a basic understanding of SQL and database administration is meriting. Experience from bioinformatics and/or chemometrics is also meriting but not an absolute requirement. Furthermore, you need to have excellent communicative skills in English, be well-structured and take responsibility to produce well-documented high-quality scientific data and be comfortable in disseminating your findings in clear presentations.

It is considered as an advantage if you have completed your doctoral degree within the last three years, if there are special reasons, your degree may have been completed earlier.

Applicants who have not completed a doctorate at the end of the application period may also apply, provided that all requirements for a completed degree are met before the (intended) date of employment. This must be substantiated by the applicant's main supervisor, director or equivalent.

What do we offer?

A creative and inspiring environment with wide-ranging expertise and interests. Karolinska Institutet is one of the world's leading medical universities. Our vision is to pursue the development of knowledge about life and to promote better health for all. At Karolinska Institutet, we conduct innovative medical research and provide the largest range of biomedical education in Sweden. Karolinska Institutet is a state university, which entitles employees to several benefits such as extended holiday and a generous occupational pension. Employees also have free access to our modern gym and receive reimbursements for medical care.

Application

 An employment application must contain the following documents in English or Swedish:

1. A complete resumé, including date of the thesis defense, title of the thesis, previous academic positions, academic title, current position, academic distinctions, and committee work
2. A complete list of publications
3. A summary of current work (no more than one page)
4. Contact information of two references, recommendation letters are also welcome
5. A brief letter of motivation (no more than one page)

Welcome to apply at the latest March 15.

The application is to be submitted through the Varbi recruitment system.

Want to make a difference? Join us and contribute to better health for all