The groups of Prof. Dr. A. Caflisch (Department of Biochemistry) and Prof. Dr. C. Nevado (Department of Chemistry) at the University of Zurich are seeking an experienced cell biologist (possibly with pharmacology interests/exposure) to support their successful program on drug discovery. Structure-based and fragment-based drug discovery methods have been exploited to develop new anticancer therapeutics, targeting enzymes, protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid interactions relevant in the epigenetic signalling. The successful candidate will join a highly interdisciplinary team involving computational scientists, biochemists, structural biologists and medicinal chemists to work on a number of projects related to haematological and solid tumours.

Responsibilities

The duties involve (but are not limited to):

• Responsibility for running the cell biology laboratory;
• Training and supervision of junior group members in performing tissue culture experiments;
• Independent design of experiments to evaluate the cellular target engagement and biological effect of small molecules;
• Characterization of compounds originating from medicinal chemistry program;
• Proof of principle studies for target selection and validation;
• Possibility to perform animal studies (in house through collaboration or outsourced).

The techniques will include:

• Basic molecular biology techniques, including DNA manipulations and cell culture;
• Cytotoxicity and viability assays, also in HTS format;
• Cellular target engagement assays, including nano-BRET, FRAP and CETSA;
• Gene expression and protein level analysis through e.g. Western Blotting, qPCR, transcriptomic or proteomic approaches (using resources available at Functional Genomics Centre Zürich);
• Gene knockouts using CRISPR/Cas9 technology;
• Advanced microscopy techniques;
• Work with mice (e.g. xenograft models).

Qualifications

We seek an enthusiastic individual with the ability to work both highly independent as well as in a team. In addition to relevant experience in cell biology (obtained during PhD and/or postdoctoral studies) the candidate should have excellent project management and communication skills.

Language requirements – fluent in English.