PhD Chemistry / Chemical Biology / Medicinal Chemistry / EU MENTORx
Employment from March 1, 2025 or according to negociation.
The Department of Biomedicine and Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, Switzerland, invite qualified candidates to apply for a position as PhD in Chemistry / Chemical Biology / Medicinal Chemistry with a relation to cancer research and immunobiology. The candidate will join our multi-disciplinary teams and focus on the development of novel modalities to target the PI3K-mTOR pathway.
The working place of the successful candidate is the Department of Biomedicine at Mattenstrasse 28, 4058 Basel, and the Department of Chemistry at St. Johanns-Ring 19, 4056 Basel.
Projects main focus:
i) Targeting oncogenicity by orthosteric, allosteric or covalent inhibitors, generation of novel compounds targeting the activation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) / mTOR pathway.
For relevant recent publications see Borsari et al. (2022) JACS 144: 6326, https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c13568; Bissegger et al. (2024) Chem. Sci. 15:20274, https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SC05459H; Jauslin, et al. (2024) Chem. Sci. 15:683, https://DOI.org/10.1039/d3sc04629j
ii) This project is flanked by a basic research project developing novel chemical probes and degraders to dissect mechanisms of adverse effects in cancer and metabolism.
For a summary of the latter see: https://data.snf.ch/grants/grant/204602
This project is part (DC 13) of the menTOR consortium (see DC 13 on https://mentor-program.eu/), a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Networks (DN) program.
Your position
- Design, development and implementation of multi-step syntheses to access small heterocyclic molecules, ev. with chemically reactive warheads to generate cancer targeting orthosteric, allosteric or covalent inhibitors.
- Improve biological activity of hit and lead compounds through structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies to support a preclinical validation processes.
- Work in a multi-disciplinary environment collaborating with experts in the field of cell biology, biochemistry, pharmacology, and computational chemistry.
- Writing of scientific publications, patents and a PhD thesis.
- Supervision of interns, master students students.
- Follow guidelines of PhD regulations of UNIBAS and the menTOR international program and conferences.
Your profile
The successful candidate holds a masters degree in synthetic organic or medicinal chemistry. Practical experience in organic synthesis, ev. with emphasis on the synthesis of biologically active molecules is welcome. Experience in molecular modeling, virtual screening, molecular dynamics, computational skills (R scripts, advanced knowledge in Excel, ChemDraw, Maestro) is welcome.
The candidate must not have resided more than 12 month in Switzerland in the last 3 years before his effective starting date (see also eligibility criteria on the menTOR web page).
Further Qualifications: Applicants must hold a degree that qualifies them for doctoral studies at UNIBAS. Candidates must be fluent in English (at or above B2 level).
We offer you
The present infrastructure and extensive research equipment is state of the art. University of Basel is an equal opportunity employer. PhD basic salaries are according to SNF-regulations.
The position will be initially for one year; the maximal duration of the PhD thesis is 4 years.
Please submit your resume (CV), a letter of motivation, your diplomas, a career plan, and addresses of 2-3 references to UniBas using the button below.
Please note that a registration/application on the menTOR website at https://mentor-program.eu/ is also mandatory. This position is registered there under DC 13 with more information.
