Marie Curie Early Stage Researcher (based Almac Discovery Edinburgh as part of the ETN Targeted Anti-Cancer Therapies “TACT”):

“Chemical Biology - Development of technologies for the next generation protein-drug conjugates (PDC) with improved stability and selectivity.”

Almac Discovery

Almac Discovery is a research driven drug discovery company with operations in Edinburgh (protein therapeutics), Manchester (bio-informatics) and the medical and life sciences campus at Queen’s University Belfast (medicinal chemistry and biology). The company focusses on identifying novel, early stage drug discovery projects in areas of unmet medical need, exploiting both small molecule and protein-based approaches to discover targeted therapeutics. The convergence of small molecule drug discovery with protein engineering expertise offers the further potential to develop truly innovative new therapeutic approaches which bridge the two areas.

The combination of the highest quality science, dedicated, passionate people and access to a strong academic network positions Almac Discovery to succeed in the challenging world of modern drug discovery. We work creatively and energetically to translate early stage research from concept to therapeutic opportunity.

The Role

Targeted Anti-Cancer Therapies’ (TACT) is a ‘European Training Network’ (ETN) research project that received funding by the European Commission under the ‘Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme’ and the ‘Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions’. As an international and multidisciplinary training and research doctoral programme, TACT will integrate the leading research scientists and laboratories in Europe to train 11 Early-Stage Researchers (ESRs) on the development of state-of-the-art targeted anti-cancer therapeutics and equip them with transferable, career-enhancing skills for both today’s academic and non-academic sectors.

The ESR project based at Almac Discovery’s site in Edinburgh will exploit protein chemistry and engineering for the development of next generation protein drug conjugates based on single domain proteins as the targeted moieties. A particular focus will be the investigation and development of new bi-specific modalities and the approaches and technologies to generating this exciting class of therapeutic agents. The successful candidate will be enrolled as a PhD student at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) and will be fully aligned with the QUB PhD programme whilst benefiting from the opportunity to gain industrial experience and expertise in drug discovery and protein therapeutic development. The successful candidate will also go on secondments (ca. 1-3 months) to different teams of the Targeted Anti-Cancer Therapies (TACT) Consortium.

The three year fixed term industrial PhD post will work on the following TACT project under the supervision of Professor Tim Harrison and Dr Graham Cotton with an expected start date of 1st October 2020.

Further Information

Applicants can visit http://www.tact-etn.eu to visualize the different research projects proposed in this programme.

Any further enquiries regarding the opportunity can be addressed to the Principal Investigator, Dr Graham Cotton at graham.cotton@almacgroup.com

To Apply:

Click here for further information, including full eligibility criteria, and to apply.

Closing date for applications: 5pm, Monday 1st June 2020