With the support of the Krebsliga (Swiss Cancer League, a registered charity with mission to support cancer patients and cancer research in Switzerland), the groups of Prof. Cristina Nevado (Department of Chemistry) and Prof. Amedeo Caflisch (Department of Biochemistry) at the University of Zurich are seeking a cancer cell biologist at the post-doctoral level to support their successful program on drug discovery. Protein 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 signaling. The successful candidate will join a highly interdisciplinary team involving computational scientists, biochemists, structural biologists and medicinal chemists.

Responsibilities

The duties and activities involve (but are not limited to):

• cytotoxicity and viability assays (cell, tissue), also in HTS format
• characterization of molecular mechanism of action of small molecules
• analysis of transcriptomics and proteomics data
• dissection of signaling pathways relevant in cancer using chemical probes
• proof of principle studies for target selection and validation
• animal studies (in house, through collaboration or outsourced)
• xenograft models
• PK/PD characterization of compounds originating from medicinal chemistry program (previous exposure to pharmacology will be a plus)

The successful candidate will drive the project to develop and validate novel epigenetic modulators for the therapy of castration resistant prostate cancer. The role will also involve co-responsibility for the cell culture lab and for the training and supervision of junior group members in performing cell culture experiments.

Qualifications

We seek an enthusiastic individual with the ability to work both highly independently as well as in a team. In addition to relevant experience in the abovementioned activities, the candidate should have excellent project management and communication skills. The candidate should have not more than two years of previous post-doctoral experience or be about to receive their PhD degree. Applications from senior researchers or senior post-docs will not be considered.