The Department of Structural Biology and Chemistry of the Institut Pasteur, Paris, has an opening for a Junior Group Leader position in Chemistry applied to Life Sciences.
Background:
The Institut Pasteur is a non-profit organization and a world leader in biomedical sciences, dedicated to excellent research in fundamental Life Sciences as well as in public-health related projects. Historical fields of expertise concern Virology, Bacteriology and Immunology. Specific current fields of interest and priority axis are: emerging infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, brain connectivity and neurodegenerative diseases, vaccinology and cancer biology.
Chemistry at the interface of Biology has an important role to play at the Institut Pasteur, since it opens many possibilities of transdisciplinary, innovative collaborations with biologists and of developing new cutting-edge technologies to understand the biology and discover new treatments for human diseases. The development of chemical reactions that occur in living systems has been a breakthrough for Biology and Medicine and has enabled to observe and study biomolecules in living systems with excellent biocompatibility. With the implementation of the “omics” approaches and phenotypic technologies, the role of Chemistry in Biology has increased because of the availability of large numbers of uncharacterized potential drug targets that can be addressed with chemical probes. They constitute a valuable toolbox for in detail studies of the biological processes, whether addressing emerging infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, neurosciences, or cancer. With an important medicinal chemistry program, these chemical tools can favor the identification of targets for therapeutic applications and development of drug-candidates, and open the way to new therapeutic strategiesor vaccines. Depending on the chemical entities, certain can also be further optimized to explore innovative prevention strategies or detection methods (diagnostic tools).
Local context:
The Group Leader will be affiliated to the Department of Structural Biology and Chemistry of the Institut Pasteur (https://research.pasteur.fr/en/department/structural-biology-chemistry/). The department is constituted of 10 research teams and 9 platforms. Three research units are dedicated to Chemistry (BioChemistry of Nucleic Acids, Chemistry of Biomolecules and Epigenetic Chemical Biology) and one platform to Chemogenomic and Biological screening.
Position:
We are seeking strong candidates with an excellent track record in Chemistry developing new chemical entities to explore biological processes in vitro and in living organisms and to propose new treatment and prevention strategies or detection methods. The candidate will have the mission to lead projects at the interface of Chemistry and Biology in close collaboration with the biologists and physicians of the Institut Pasteur.
Applicants should possess 5-12 years of experience in the field and, depending on experience, a demonstrated history of sustained grant support. Maternity and paternity leave will be taken into account. Evaluation of applications will be based on scientific excellence. Successful candidates will be offered a permanent position starting from Fall 2024. Highly attractive packages to match the experience of the candidate will be provided, including institutional salaries (principal investigator, technician, secretary, postdoctoral fellows), a substantial contribution to running costs and equipment, access to on campus state-of-the-art technology core facilities, as well as support for relocation expenses and administrative matters.
Institut Pasteur values diverse perspectives and is committed to continually supporting, promoting, and building an inclusive and culturally diverse campus environment.
Candidates are encouraged to contact the head of the Department of Structural Biology and Chemistry, Paola Arimondo (paola.arimondo@pasteur.fr).
The template for the application can be downloaded here.
Applications and at least 2 recommendation letters should be sent as a single pdf file to: ChemLS_2023@pasteur.fr
The deadline for submission of the applications is October 16, 2023 5 pm Central European Time.
Short-listed candidates will be contacted by the end of October for an interview, which will take place during the last week of November 2023 in Paris.
Contact: des@pasteur.fr