Postdoctoral Fellow - Structure and function of full-length nuclear receptors
R-215656: Postdoctoral Fellow - Structure and function of full-length nuclear receptors
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
Competitive Salary, Bonus & Benefits Package
Do you have expertise in protein engineering, structural biology, and biophysical characterisation? Would you apply your knowledge and skills on challenging protein targets that are highly relevant for drug discovery? Are you interested in molecular evolution and how drug pharmacophores drive mechanistic differentiation? Then join the Protein, Structure and Biophysics department at AstraZeneca and unlock the power of what science can do!
About AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca is a global, science-led, patient-centred biopharmaceutical company focusing on discovering, developing, and commercialising prescription medicines for some of the world’s most serious diseases. But we’re more than a global leading pharmaceutical company. At AstraZeneca, we're dedicated to being a Great Place to Work and empowering employees to push the boundaries of science and fuel their entrepreneurial spirit.
About our Postdoc Programme
Bring your expertise, apply your knowledge, follow the science, and make a difference. AstraZeneca’s Postdoc Programme is for self-motivated individuals looking to deliver exciting projects in an encouraging, engaging, and innovative environment. You'll work with multidisciplinary scientific teams from a diverse set of backgrounds and a world-class academic mentor specifically aligned to your project. Our postdocs are respected as specialists, encouraged to speak up, and supported to share their research at conferences, publish papers, achieve their goals.
Make a more meaningful impact in your career, with greater ownership and accountability to make a contribution whilst making a difference to the lives of our patients!
This is a 3-year programme, with an initial 2-year period and a 1-year merit-based extension.
About the Opportunity
In this exciting Postdoctoral Fellow position, you’ll develop expression and purification protocols for relevant drug targets and characterize how next generation medicines impact the structural, biophysical, and functional profiles.
This project is supported by the Discovery Sciences organization that works across all of AstraZeneca’s therapy areas to discover and characterize novel drug hits and develop them into candidate drugs. The Protein, Structure and Biophysics department works across the entire discovery value chain, identifying hits, providing structural activity relationship data for molecular differentiation and drug molecule optimization.
Project Focus
In this project you will conduct pioneering research in mechanistic structural biology. You will collaborate with experienced AZ interdisciplinary scientists with diverse set backgrounds, and an exceptional academic mentor specifically aligned to the project, to design protein constructs, develop expression and purification protocols, and characterise the proteins using biophysical, structural, and functional assays.
Supported by Karl Edman, Principal Scientist at AstraZeneca, you will also receive mentorship and guidance from an academic supervisor.
What You’ll Do
As a Postdoctoral Fellow, you will design novel protein constructs and develop expression and purification protocols. You will characterize the protein targets abilities to bind coregulator peptides, DNA and novel drug molecules using a wide range of biophysical and structural methods and explore the functional consequences in relevant assays using the state-of-the-art AstraZeneca facilities.
Key Duties & Responsibilities:
Lead and drive the project under the supervision of cross-functional AstraZeneca team and in collaboration with the academic expert
Plan, write, publish, and present high-quality scientific papers
Essential Requirements
PhD degree (or equivalent) in protein engineering
Good knowledge of experimental structure determination (X-ray crystallography or Cryo- Electron microscopy)
Experience in biophysical characterization
Our Postdoc programme is aimed at individuals who are either:
Within 5-years of obtaining their doctoral degree (PhD, DVM, or MD) - PhD already awarded, or
Students, soon to obtain doctoral degrees (the PhD must be awarded within 6 months of joining AstraZeneca)
Desirable Requirements
Excellent written and oral communication skills
Strong planning, organizational and time management skills
Ability to work effectively in a multi-disciplinary, research environment
Reasons to Apply
You will work in an industry-leading group with a strong publication track record and be supported by a leading academic supervisor. This is a fantastic opportunity to strengthen your skills in protein engineering, biophysics, and structural biology. In addition, you will work with relevant drug target and build your understanding of disease biology and how we work across the different therapy areas. Finally, you will learn how we drive drug discovery within a world leading organisation.
Why AstraZeneca
The unique positioning of this postdoc within a pharmaceutical company such as AZ, means that you will be able to access large datasets which are not available in the public domain. Moreover, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that methods and techniques you develop will not only be published but will also be used within AZ after the postdoc position concludes, in real-life projects - and that ultimately the work you do will directly impact patients’ lives!
On-Site Working
The position is located at our research site in Gothenburg, Sweden.
As a key member of a research group and taking a leading role on a Postdoctoral project, we expect regular attendance - a minimum of 3 days per week on the AstraZeneca campus. For laboratory-based scientists, this may be higher.
Given the unique positioning of our Postdoctoral researchers, you may have an additional opportunity to spend some time with an external academic mentor. In this instance, you may be required to spend some of your time working alongside them at their facility as driven by the research project.
Your flexibility to meet the needs of the research and the scope of the project is required and we also look to support you with flexibility in accordance with our standard work policies.
Next Steps
If your passion is science and you want to be part of a team that makes a bigger impact on patients’ lives, then there’s no better place to be.
This advert will be running from January 3, 2025 and, we welcome your application as soon as possible, but ahead of the scheduled closing date of January 31, 2025. In the event, that we identify suitable candidates ahead of the scheduled closing date, we reserve the right to close the vacancy earlier than published.
Find Out More
AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity. We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills. We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics. We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorisation and employment eligibility verification requirements.
