Postdoc Fellow - Understanding cooperativity for PROTACs

Postdoc Fellow- Understanding cooperativity for PROTACs

Location: Gothenburg, Sweden



Innovate to change the world.

Do you have expertise in, and a passion for cell biology? Would you like to apply your expertise in a company that follows the science and turns ideas into life changing medicines? Then AstraZeneca might be the one for you!

AstraZeneca is a global, science-led, patient-focused biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialisation of prescription medicines for some of the world's most serious diseases. But we're more than one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies. A place for bold disruptors shifting from academia to industry, this is where you can think differently to cut through the noise, add value, and bring fresh thinking to our teams and projects. Collaborating across functions and international boarders, you'll share knowledge and combine strengths to take your skills, and our science, to the next level.

About the Postdoc Programme

We're currently looking for hardworking scientists to join our innovative academic-style Postdoc program. This position is placed at AstraZeneca's dynamic R&D site in Gothenburg, Sweden, where you will be in a global pharmaceutical environment, contributing to live projects right from the beginning. You'll take part in a comprehensive training programme, including a focus on drug discovery and development, given access to our existing Postdoctoral research, and encouraged to pursue your own independent research in our ground-breaking laboratories. This an exciting and newly expanding programme spanning a range of therapeutic areas across a wide range of fields.

Receive the support of a leading academic advisor, who'll provide you with the mentorship and knowledge you need to develop your career. PROTACs (PROteasomal Targeting Chimeras) display an exciting new modality to control protein degradation and have not been explored to their full potential, making this a unique chance to create a real difference to the future of medical science!

About the Opportunity

In this role, we're looking for a postdoc to employ state of the art cell biology approaches to study protein degradation using PROTACs (PROteasomal TArgeting Chimeras). The aim of this work is to link PROTAC intracellular degradation efficiency to PROTAC binding properties such as affinity and binding kinetics as well as ternary complex formation, stability, and cooperativity.

You will join the Mechanistic and Structural Biology department at AstraZeneca, which has accumulated extensive experience in assessing and characterising molecular interactions in both biochemical/biophysical and cellular settings. Having the opportunity to collaborate with Associate Professor Mikael Altun at Karolinska Institute, a leading expert in protein degradation, is one of the many perks of this position.

Not only will this work help to further advance the fundamental understanding of PROTAC mechanism of action, but could also aid in the development of new and better PROTACs based on the findings from this study. The primary goal is to publish those findings in high impact journals.

This Postdoc position allows for a high level of control and influence over the project and ample opportunities to learn new technical, as well as leadership skills. You will also work in collaboration with people from many different fields within and across the AstraZeneca PROTACs community.

Essential Education and Experience

* PhD in cell biology, molecular biology, or related field
* Proven expertise in running cell assays compatible with monitoring protein degradation (like Immunofluorescence or similar) and by utilising current state-of-the-art approaches
* Possess a strong background of relevant publications in reputable peer-reviewed scientific journals
* A strong interest in understanding highly complex biological processes mechanistically

Desirable Qualifications

* Experience in working with PROTACs
* Experience in using biophysical techniques, such as SPR or ITC, to monitor protein-protein and protein-small molecule interactions

This is a 3-year programme. 2 years will be a Fixed Term Contract, with a 1-year extension which will be merit based.

Are you already imagining yourself joining our team? Good, because we can't wait to hear from you.

Where can I find out more?

Our Gothenburg site: https://careers.astrazeneca.com/sweden

AstraZeneca's Postdoc Programme https://careers.astrazeneca.com/postdocs-astrazeneca

Life at AstraZeneca: https://careers.astrazeneca.com/life-at-astrazeneca