Postdoctoral Fellow: Medicinal Chemistry & Drug Discovery

Postdoctoral Fellow:
Medicinal Chemistry & Drug Discovery

Wayne State University is searching for an experienced Postdoctoral Fellow:
Medicinal Chemistry & Drug Discovery at its Detroit campus location.

Wayne State is a premier, public, urban research university located in the heart of Detroit, Michigan where students from all backgrounds are offered a rich, high-quality education. Our deep-rooted commitment to excellence, collaboration, integrity, diversity and inclusion creates exceptional educational opportunities which prepare students for success in a global society.

What if a single sugar-modifying enzyme held the key to newtherapies for cancer, diabetes, and obesity? The Fehl Lab just landed two newNIH grants built around exactly that question, one for chemical tool development and one for treating metabolic disease, and both converge on thesame high-value target: O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT). We are hiring apostdoctoral fellow to help take our rationally designed hit compound frombench to preclinical study.

This is a rare chance to lead medicinal chemistry on avalidated, high-impact target from hit to lead, with a real path towardtranslational and even commercial impact via Wayne State's Tech Town startupenvironment.

We are chemical biologists who build tools to answer bigquestions in sugar biology, and we care as much about your growth as we doabout the science. You will join a supportive, creative, and diverse groupculture at Wayne State University, in the heart of Detroit, with directmentorship from PI Charlie Fehl and a clear runway toward publications,patents, and your next career step.

Our trainees have gone straight to industry, to exciting postdocs at other universities and at the NIH, and even atenure-track faculty position. Our track record of training and publishing is excellent, and we're looking for excellent people to join us!

Fehl Lab | Department of Chemistry|Wayne State University | Detroit, MI |

Design and synthesize small-molecule OGTinhibitors, building structure-activity relationships (SAR) around our hitcompound.

Advance our lab's radical/photochemicalsynthetic methods and use to access new sugar-based chemical probes.

Evaluate inhibitor potency,selectivity, and mechanism usingin vitroand cell-based OGTassays.

Optimize pharmacokinetic (PK) properties, including solubility, metabolic stability, and permeability, toadvance hits toward lead compounds.

Collaborate with disease biologists toapply your new probes to disease insight. Also, work with our own lab's trainees to mentor their medicinal chemical skills and maintain a culture of research excellence.

Contribute to intellectual propertystrategy and help explore paths to commercialization, including potentialinvolvement in a spinout biotech company.

• PhD in organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, or a related field.
• Hands-on experience synthesizing and evaluating small-molecule inhibitors.
• Interest in (and ideally experience with) chemical method development.
• Curiosity about pharmacokinetics and hit-to-lead optimization.
• Genuine interest in translational science, biotech, or startups.
• Strong communication skills, a collaborative mindset, and a willingness to train junior lab members.

H12 - College of Liberal Arts & Science

H1205 - Chemistry

• Regular Employee
• Job type:
  Full Time
• Job category:
  Research

• Compensation type:
  Annual Salary
• Salary minimum: $55,000
• Salary hire maximum: $63,480

• Number of openings: 1

University policy requires certain persons who are offered employment to undergo a background check, including a criminal history check, before starting work. If you are offered employment, the university will inform you if a background check is required.