ESR position at the University of Siena, Italy

The TASPPI (Targeted Stabilization of Protein-Protein Interactions) project focuses on the identification of small-molecule stabilizers of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) as a novel class of therapeutic agents and basic research tool compounds, to address unmet medical needs including cancer, neurodegenerative, pulmonary, inflammation and metabolic diseases.
This ESR position is available at the University of Siena, Italy, and the working place will be the Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy (http://www.dbcf.unisi.it/en), which offers a PhD course in chemistry and medicinal chemistry sciences. A time limited contract will be offered with a three years (36 months) duration.
Tasks include:
• Structure- and ligand-based computational studies finalized to the study of protein motion, ligand docking, pharmacophore modeling, virtual screening, virtual library design and rational hit-to-lead optimization;
• Development of effective and economic synthetic routes for obtaining 14-3-3 PPI stabilizers;
• Ligand-based NMR studies on small libraries to probe the interaction with 14-3-3;
• Scale up syntheses for supplying sufficient amount of lead compounds for biological tests.
Moreover, this ESR will participate in the pharmacological testing of the candidate 14-3-3 PPIs stabilizers in collaboration with an industry partner of TASPPI.
Qualifications:
• Degree in chemistry, medicinal chemistry, biotechnology or related fields;
• Basic knowledge of organic and medicinal chemistry;
• Good written and spoken English;
• High motivation and ability to work in a multidisciplinary environment.
Moreover, candidates must be in the first four years of their scientific career and not hold a PhD. They must have not resided for more than 12 months in the hosting Country, prior to the hiring date.
Publication of research papers relevant to this call in peer-reviewed journals will be considered as a plus. Proven capacities to work with Linux operating systems and basic programming skills in scientific languages (such as, for example, python, bash, c++, java), will be considered a plus as well.
Our Offer:
The TASPPI European Training Network (ETN) aims at establishing a highly interdisciplinary research and educational training platform for early stage researchers (ESR) in the chemical life sciences to overcome the inherent boundaries between academia and industry and to increase their employability in both areas.
Our scientific goal is offering to early stage researchers (ESR) a multidisciplinary technology platform bringing together structural molecular biology, chemical biology, cell biology, synthetic chemistry, and medicinal chemistry.


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