Student Placement - Medicinal Chemistry; lab undergraduate placement scheme

Salary: £24,000 plus benefits
Reports to: Group Leader (Medicinal Chemistry)
Directorate: research & Innovation
Contract: 52 week, Fixed Term Contract
Hours: Full-time, 35 hours per week
Location: CRUK Scotland institute, Glasgow (Lab based)
Closing date: Sunday 8th November 2026
Recruitment process: Screening call + Competency based interview

Visa sponsorship: You must be eligible to work in the UK to apply for this vacancy. Cancer Research UK is not able to offer visa sponsorship.

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.

As the world's biggest medical research charity, we’ve helped bring eleven new cancer drugs to market. However, there is still an urgent need to bring more effective treatments to patients faster.

We have recently developed a new approach to driving therapeutic innovation through the creation of Cancer Research Horizons (CRH). We have brought together Cancer Research UK’s established drug discovery teams under one organisation and leadership team, combining our unique pipeline of cancer biology expertise and access to CRUK’s world-class academic network, cutting edge technology platforms and clinical expertise to
1) bring new treatments to patients faster and
2) tackle the biggest challenges in discovering cancer drugs by seeking out more radical ideas and embracing risk in our bid to achieve success.

Based at sites in Cambridge, the CRUK Scotland Institute in Glasgow and Newcastle University, Cancer Research Horizons employs ~180 staff from both industrial and academic backgrounds.

In this role you will support the overarching objective of CRH-TI to discover novel cancer therapeutic agents that will ultimately provide patient benefit. This will involve the prosecution of a laboratory-based project that is designed to expand the Medicinal Chemistry team’s technical capabilities.

The successful candidate will join the Medicinal Chemistry team and will have an opportunity to apply their understanding of organic synthesis in our chemistry labs, working alongside an expert team of Medicinal Chemists.

Potential elements to the project may include:

• Development of greener and more sustainable chemistry techniques in our labs, such as electrochemistry and the use of green solvents.
• Route development and synthesis of novel compounds that will add value and diversity to our compound libraries, for use in screening campaigns.

We have 1 x 52-week placement to offer based in Glasgow, with negotiable start dates in September 2027.

• Synthesis, purification, and analysis of novel small molecules
• Apply organic synthesis knowledge in execution of experiments and interpretation of results
• Maintain awareness of relevant current scientific literature and developments
• Provide verbal and written reports/presentations when required
• Maintain laboratory notebooks and other data to required standards
• Perform all work demonstrating due care and attention to all health & safety regulations
• Interact with colleagues in all areas of CRH-TI and provide help and assistance wherever possible
• Contribute to the day-to-day running and responsibilities of the lab
• Participate in, and report to, chemistry group meetings when required
• • Show appreciation of the scientific rationale of the project
  • Contribute to design of experiments to progress the project

• Undergraduate student studying Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Chemistry or a closely related chemical science discipline who will have completed at least two years of study by August 2027.
• Ability to provide effective and timely communication of data and progress to your supervisor, and, when required, other members of staff within the chemistry group or wider project…