Postdoctoral Fellow position in translational research and drug development, USA

The University of Florida is seeking US trainged PHpostdoctoral fellows interested in translational research and drug development. Our laboratory studies how two anticancer genes, BRG1 and BRM are silenced. BRG1 and BRM are catalytic subunits of the SWI/SNF complex, which promotes gene expression by remodeling the chromatin. Since many transcription factors and key cellular proteins required the SWI/SNF complex for their function, it is not surprising that this complex is inactivated during cancer development. Such proteins as Rb and p53 are functionally dependent on BRG1 and BRM and hence their function is impaired with BRG1 and/or BRM loss. We have found that BRM is not mutated by reversibly silenced and can be pharmacologically restored. As BRM and BRG1 re-expression inhibits cancer cell growth, reactivating these proteins is a novel form of targeted therapy.

To this end, we have undertaken high throughput screening to identify novel compounds which can induce BRM. In addition, we have uncovered two 6bp insertational polymorphisms in the BRM promoter region which are tied to BRM silencing. As BRM loss promotes cancer development, we have found that these polymorphisms are predictive of cancer risk as well as patient outcome. Our research encompasses the pursuit of drug development, exploring biomarkers for cancer risk and understand the mechanisms of epigenetic silencing. Postdoctoral fellows will be involved in high throughput drug screening and in the validation of compound hits. Postdoctoral fellows must be well versed in molecular biology techniques such as western blotting, PCR, Q-PCR, cell culture, purification of nucleic acid and using and production of lentil virus.

Postdoctoral fellow must be willing to work with mice as well. For a review of our research, see Oncogene April 2009. Salary range from $35-$45k depending on experience and ability. Please contact Dr. David Reisman M.D., Ph.D. at dnreisman@ufl.edu. Please forward CV and contact information for three references The large, well-equipped laboratory is located in the new Cancer Center at the University of Florida (Gainesville, Florida).

Recent papers
1) Reisman D, Glaros S. and Thompson E.A. SWI/SNF and Cancer, 2009, Oncogene p1-16. 2009 Apr 9;28(14):1653-68.

2) Vanessa Gorden, Colin Rogers, David Reisman. Alterations in SWI/SNF in human cancers (2010) Oncology Reviews, 2010, Volume 4, Number 2, Pages 89-99

3) Sarah Gramling, David Reisman. Discovery of BRM Targeted Therapies: Novel Reactivation of an Anticancer Gene, Letters in Drug Design & Discovery. Vol 8, No. 1, January 2011

4) Liu G, Gramling S, Munoz D, Cheng D, Azad AK, Mirshams M, Chen Z, Xu W, Roberts H, Shepherd FA, Tsao MS, Reisman D. Two novel functional BRM insertion promoter polymorphisms, loss of BRM expression, and lung cancer risk. Oncogene. 2011 Jul 21;30(29):3295-304

5) Gramling S, Rogers C, Liu G, Reisman D. Pharmacologic reversal of epigenetic silencing of the anticancer protein, BRM, a novel targeted treatment strategy Oncogene. 2011 Jul 21;30(29):3289-94
Application Deadline: Open Until Filled

Postdoctoral Position in Virology 2013 - South Africa

 Post-Doctoral Position in the Antiviral Research Group (Dept of Virology – UKZN/NHLS)

The recently established Antiviral Research Group, within the Department of Virology at UKZN/NHLS, requires the expertise and skills of a postdoctoral fellow with an interest in the field of anti-HIV drug discovery.

Qualifications

     ·       PhD in Virology, anti-HIV Drug Discovery, or similar/related field

     ·       Publications in the field of drug discovery and/or virology

 Requirements (one or more of the following)

      ·       Experience in cell culture/virus (HIV) culture(particularly aseptic techniques)

     ·       Experience in cytotoxicity testing and high-throughput screening for  novel antiviral agents

     ·       Experience in mechanism of action assays

     ·       Familiarity with Biosafety level 2+ working conditions

     ·       Knowledge of good laboratory practices

     ·       Familiarity with antiviral medicinal chemistry

 Duties and Role

      •     Engage in exploratory research in search for novel antiretroviral agents

     ·     Engage in collaborative projects with Chemistry (“Peptide and Catalysis”)  and other groups

     ·     Perform cytotoxicity, antiviral, mechanism of action and other antiviral drug discovery assays

    ·     Establish high-throughput antiviral screening assays

     •     Manage a research laboratory, including storage and cell banking

     •     Generate reports and prepare manuscripts for publication

     ·     Write protocols and funding proposals

     ·     Generate independent research ideas and proposals

To apply

    Contact  parboosingr@ukzn.ac.za

last date to apply:May 01, 2013

For More Information

Industrial Postdoc Position in drug discovery at AstraZeneca, Sweden

Location: Mölndal, Sweden

AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription pharmaceuticals and the supply of healthcare services. But we're more than one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies. At AstraZeneca, we're proud to have a unique workplace culture that inspires innovation and collaboration. Here, employees are empowered to express diverse perspectives - and are made to feel valued, energized and rewarded for their ideas and creativity.

Right now we have an exciting opportunity for a Ph.D. scientist to develop methodology that determines the orientation of ligands bound to proteins of pharmaceutical interest. The aim of the work is to produce information that is complementary to conventional methods for structure determination of protein-ligand complexes and enable more efficient synthetic chemistry efforts in a drug discovery programme. The work is multi-disciplinary in nature and includes secondments to Leiden University and the University of Florence, research centres with extensive experience in paramagnetic protein NMR.

This position is part of the FP7 – PEOPLE Marie Curie Initial Training Network "pNMR" (Pushing the Envelope of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy for Paramagnetic Systems. A Combined Experimental and Theoretical Approach). For more information please visit http://www.pnmr.eu/.

Objectives
• To enable more efficient synthetic chemistry efforts in drug discovery by determining the relative orientation of small molecule ligands to at least one drug target protein.
• To show that this can be achieved within a time-frame that is compatible with the time-lines in a drug-discovery programme.

Responsibilities
• Show strong initiative in conducting research, and bringing it to functional use within AstraZeneca and the drug discovery community.
• Interface with scientists from across many disciplines while at the same time being able to work independently.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to work effectively with colleagues and initiate collaboration.

Tasks and methodology
• Production of drug target protein with lanthanide binding tags rigidly attached.
• Determination of pseudo-contact shift (PCS) tensors for the lanthanide tagged proteins.
• Detection of transferred PCSs for several ligands.
• Structure calculations based on PCSs. Comparison with known crystal structures to assess quality of PCS-based structures.

Minimum experience
• A PhD in biomolecular NMR or closely related field.

Preferred experience/requirements
• Protein NMR assignments.
• Protein-ligand interactions and binding kinetics.
• Protein production.
• Paramagnetic NMR.
• Synthetic chemistry.

AstraZeneca – Health Connects Us All
As one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, our business is focused on providing innovative, effective medicines that make a real difference in important areas of healthcare. What’s more, we support and encourage our people in discovering their own potential. Excellent learning and development opportunities will be available to you throughout your career here.

Contact:
For more information about the position please contact Tomas Åkerud at +46 31 7064412

Please send your application no later than April 30, 2013

AstraZeneca welcomes applications from all sections of the community.

http://jobs.astrazeneca.com/jobs