Postdoctoral Research Assistant : Oxford, United Kingdom

Salary: Grade 7: £30,434 - £37,394 p.a. (pay award pending)

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral research assistant to join a medicinal chemistry team working under the overall supervision of Professors Steve Davies and Angela Russell. The project forms part of the UtroDMD Alliance – a strategic alliance established in November 2013 between the University of Oxford and Summit Therapeutics to develop utrophin modulators for the treatment of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). This is an exciting opportunity to work with world leading researchers and contribute to the development of innovative new therapies for areas of significant unmet medical need, with the primary focus being on DMD. The team is currently working on several novel chemical classes which upregulate the production of utrophin, and represent potential treatments for DMD, in a collaboration between the Departments of Chemistry, Pharmacology and Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, including Professor Angela Russell, Professor Steve Davies and Professor Dame Kay Davies, and Summit Therapeutics.

The posts are funded by Summit Therapeutics and are available immediately for a fixed-term of 12 months in the first instance, with the possibility of extension for a further 24 months. The successful candidate will be expert in synthetic organic chemistry and/or will have experience in medicinal chemistry, drug discovery/development, and screening.

Candidates must have an organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry or chemical biology PhD or will have submitted a thesis in one of these subjects prior to taking up the appointments.