Research Specialist in Enzyme Activation

Do you want to contribute to improving human health?

The Department of Oncology and Pathology’s mission is to improve diagnostics, treatment and quality of life for patients with cancer through basic, translational and clinical research and education in the field of cancer. We want to achieve excellence in research and education, foster clinical research and create high technology platforms for research support and innovation. In that we value ethics, high diversity and equality; cultivate openness networking and collaborations to consolidate national and international forces to cure cancer.

EUbOPEN at Science for Life Laboratory

The EUbOPEN consortium is an Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) funded project with the overarching goal to enable and unlock biology in the open. The project consortium consists of 22 partners from academia and industry. EUbOPEN is funded until May 2025 and has a total budget of 65.8 million euros covered by a grant from the IMI as cash and in-kind contributions from the EFPIA companies, IMI Associated Partners and non-EU partners.

The EUbOPEN Team at Science for Life Laboratory establishes protein family platforms for the profiling and discovery of chemogenomic compounds and chemical probes. Our goal is to investigate molecular mechanisms in DNA repair and cancer metabolism. We are individuals that work in teams combining experts in chemistry, biochemistry, biology, pharmacology, medicine and data science. Essential aspects of our work are research, teaching and collaboration on national, international and intradepartmental levels. Within this context, the EUbOPEN Team at the Helleday laboratory is searching for a researcher in enzyme activation.

Your mission

While inhibition of pivotal enzymes is a broadly applied strategy in medicine, enzymatic activation as a strategy to treat diverse diseases has so far been an undervalued concept. Recently, we have demonstrated that enzymatic activation with small molecules can be achieved in a DNA repair protein by partaking in the biochemical reaction performed by the protein (Michel et al. Science 2022, Benítez-Buelga et al. Clin Transl Med 2022).

We are now building further on these findings and pursue the development of this technology as a broadly applicable concept for medicine and health. Therefore, we are now looking for a driven individual who will contribute to this ambitious goal independent of post-graduate experience level. This is a broadly defined and exciting position with the scientific freedom and time to push the frontiers of what is currently possible within the field of enzyme activation. Therefore, preference will be given to personal suitability.

Eligibility requirements

To be eligible for employment as a Research Specialist, in addition to holding a Degree of Doctor, PhD, or having equivalent scientific expertise, the applicant must have demonstrated research expertise as well as have documented research experience after defending their doctoral dissertation.

Who are you?

A curious, driven scientist with experience from working in interdisciplinary project teams
A detail-oriented organic or medicinal chemist, biochemist or chemical biologist with excellent communication skills
An inspiring, supportive supervisor, mentor, teacher and coach to undergraduate students

What are some of your skills?

Broad synthetic experience in heterocyclic, peptide or medicinal chemistry; organocatalysis basics are merited
State-of-the-art analytical skills, e.g. NMR and LCMS, for the characterization of small and medium-sized molecules
Experience from protein expression and purification
Development of biochemical or biological assays and techniques in DNA repair, e.g. fluorescence based, qPCR, Western Blot etc.
Experience from structure-based computational chemistry and data mining

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. Here, we conduct successful medical research and hold the largest range of medical education in Sweden. At KI, you get to meet researchers working with a wide range of specialisms and methods, giving you ample opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience with the various scientific fields within medicine and health. It is the crossover collaborations, which have pushed KI to where it is today, at the forefront of global research. Several of the people you meet in healthcare are educated at KI. A close relationship with the health care providers is important for creating groundbreaking top quality education and research. Karolinska Institutet is also a state university, which entitles you to several benefits through our collective agreement.

Application

We prefer that your application is written in English, but you can also apply in Swedish. An application must contain the following documents: Resumé with publication list (max 3 pages), cover Letter with details of 2 references (max 2 pages), qualifications and description of planned research, presented in accordance with Karolinska Institutet's qualifications portfolio.

Welcome to apply at the latest December 5th.

The application must be submitted through the Varbi recruitment system.

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