Research Scientist – Computational Chemistry – IRBM, Medicinal Chemistry Unit – Ref. 179A

September 15^th, 2022

Position: Research Scientist in Computational Chemistry – IRBM, Medicinal Chemistry Unit – Ref. 179 A

IRBM is an innovative contract research organization working across all aspects of drug discovery and early development for different modalities – small molecules, peptides, RNAs and antibodies. We foster collaborations with organizations from the pharmaceutical, biotech and academic sectors to accelerate drug discovery from target validation and hit identification to candidate nomination. Our 200 plus-strong, multidisciplinary teamwork at a state-of-the-art R&D facility near Rome where projects are carried out “under one roof” enabling rapid cycle times and close integration of the scientific teams. IRBM’s scientists have discovered several drugs that are on the market, and more than 25 compounds have gone into clinical testing. The company was founded in 2010, as a spin-off from Merck & Co. Now in our 12th year as an independent research organisation, we have laid the foundations to become a global centre for excellence in all aspects of drug discovery and early development.

Job Description

IRBM is seeking a talented and highly motivated computational chemist. The ideal candidate will have proven experience in applying a wide range of molecular modelling and computer aided drug design techniques to the advancement of small molecule drug discovery programs. The successful candidate will be highly creative, proactive, and detail-oriented with a passion for drug discovery. The individual will be an integral member of our drug discovery medicinal chemistry team and will drive the in silico strategy, providing tailored computational chemistry support across multiple and diverse small molecule drug discovery programs.

Key responsibilities

• Provide computational chemistry support to research projects using a broad spectrum of structure-based design and cheminformatics techniques and analyses; enhance the understanding of SAR and influence team strategy by assimilating and interpreting data using modelling, and data-mining technologies.
• Apply state-of-the-art computational approaches to solving pharmaceutical research problems
• Establish and maintain productive interactions with our Structural Biology, High Throughput Screening, and Discovery Biology divisions.
• Active participation in group, project team and departmental research meetings.
• Help to advance and maintain internal computational chemistry and chemoinformatic tools and infrastructure.
• Contributes to the writing of technical documents, patents, scientific manuscripts, etc.

Competencies/skills

• Demonstrated expertise in computational methods such as structure and ligand-based design, conformational analysis, molecular dynamics, QSAR, binding free energy calculations and data mining.
• Excellent oral and written presentation skills in English. Be able to explain clearly complex and abstract computational strategies and capable to adapt to diverse targeted audiences (chemists, biologists, CADDs).
• Proficient in computer programming and in modelling packages
• Skilled in the use of advanced scientific concepts and theories relevant to Computational Chemistry.
• Excellent at multi-tasking and capable of supporting multiple programs simultaneously
• Good interpersonal skills, flexible and works well within a team environment
• Experience in MD or PROTAC design would be considered a plus.

Qualifications

• Required: Ph.D. in Chemistry, Computational Chemistry or related field. With at least 1+ year of relevant research experience in Accademia or Research institution
• Preferred: 1+ years of industrial experience in the drug discovery field.