Summary of Role

In addition to the Biophysical Assay development position (ID 25) a second  Higher Scientific Officer position is now available in the Hit Discovery and Structural Design
Team within the CRUK Cancer Therapeutics Unit at the Institute of Cancer Research (ID 43). The team uses biochemical and biophysical assays to perform small-molecule high-throughput screening and fragment-based hit discovery, coupled with X-ray crystallography
to enable structure-based drug design within the Unit. These methodologies are underpinned by state-of-the art protein expression, purification and characterisation capabilities, allowing for the generation of large quantities of high quality protein targets.

We are seeking a highly motivated scientist with expertise in protein expression and purification to join the team. The successful candidate will lead on establishing
and carrying out the protein expression and purification of multiple cancer targets required for one or more projects in the Unit’s drug discovery portfolio. In addition, the candidate will be involved in the characterisation of the expressed target proteins
and of ligands binding to them, using a suite of biophysical and biochemical techniques in order to establish small molecule screening assays. The successful candidate will be an integral member of a multidisciplinary project team and will interact closely
with biologists, computational chemists, medicinal chemists and structural biologists to help progress the projects from hit finding to clinical trial. 

 

 Key Requirements:

Applicants must be educated to degree level in a biological science and will ideally
have an MSc or PhD in a relevant subject. Experience and demonstrable skills in molecular biology, protein expression in
E.coli and protein purification are essential. Experience in protein expression in insect and/or mammalian cells and/or biophysical techniques such as SPR, DSF and ITC is highly desirable.

 

Directorate Information:

The Cancer Research UK Cancer Therapeutics Unit, within the Division of Cancer Therapeutics, is a multidisciplinary ‘bench to bedside’ centre, comprising around 200 staff dedicated
to the discovery and development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. The Cancer Therapeutics Unit’s exciting goal is to discover high quality drug candidates for validated biological targets and to progress these candidates to clinical trial.
All the scientific disciplines are in place to make this possible. Our biologists work alongside world-class chemists and drug metabolism specialists focusing on new molecular targets emerging from human genome and ground breaking cell biology research. This
is an exciting and fast moving area of cancer research, and offers the opportunity to work within a multi-disciplinary environment using state-of-the-art techniques and equipment. 

 

About our team

The Hit Discovery and Structural Design Team uses biochemical and biophysical assays to perform small-molecule high-throughput
screening and fragment-based hit discovery, coupled with X-ray crystallography and electron microscopy to enable structure-based drug design within the Unit. These methodologies are underpinned by state-of-the-art protein expression, purification and characterisation
capabilities, allowing for the generation of large quantities of high-quality protein targets. We are based at the ICR Sutton site in the newly opened Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery. Pertinent to this role, the team is equipped with a broad range of biophysical
technologies including SPR (GE Healthcare T200 & 8K Biacores), ITC (Malvern MicroCal iTC200), DSF/TSA (Nanotemper Prometheus & Biorad 384-well thermal cyclers) and DLS (Xtal concepts SpectroLight600). We also have access to Mass Spectrometry and NMR facilities
within the division, used both for sample QC and assays (MS-based assays, ligand- and protein-observed NMR). To enable fast and accurate assay preparation, the team possesses a broad range of liquid handling equipment, including pipetting robots and two Beckman
ECHO acoustic dispensing machines integrated onto Access systems for compound dispensing. Last but not least, the team has extensive capabilities to produce recombinant proteins in bacteria, insect cells and mammalian cells, together with six state-of-the-art
GE Healthcare Akta Pures for protein purification.

You will be joining a team working at the crossroads of the drug discovery activities of the Cancer Research UK Cancer
Therapeutics Unit, where scientific excellence and team science are core values. You will be working in close collaboration with colleagues in the fields of biology, chemistry, structural biology, DMPK and computational chemistry, to help design and test novel
cancer therapeutics. This position will also offer training in new techniques and support will be available for attending training courses and appropriate academic meetings.

 

Applications will only be considered if made via the e-recruitment system on our website www.icr.ac.uk (ID
43), but you may contact Dr Rob van Montfort for further
information by emailing rob.vanmontfort@icr.ac.uk.
We encourage all applicants to access the job pack attached for more detailed information regarding this role. 

 

Salary: Starting salary
£32,000.

Salary range £32,000 to £44,400 per annum. Appointments are normally made at the starting salary. Future progression is based
on annual performance review.

Duration of Contract: Fixed
Term for 2 years

Closing Date:  7  January 2022