Research Scientist | Houston, TX

EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE, KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

• Ph.D. in Medicinal/Peptide/Biochemistry or related areas with thesis and publication(s).
• Deep understanding of medicinal chemistry and in particular peptide and conjugation chemistry principles, and their application within an integrated drug discovery environment.
• Expertise in modern peptide chemistry especially SPPS and NCL.
• Familiarity with modern analytical techniques such as ESI, LC/MS, MALDI/TOF MS, fluorescence microscopy, fluorometry, NMR, CD, and UV/VIS spectrophotometry.
• Expertise with aqueous bioconjugation and non-aqueous conjugation chemistry.
• Knowledgeable in all aspects of drug discovery from target discovery through to early clinical development.
• Demonstrated expertise in hypothesis based medicinal and/or peptide chemistry.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a dynamic multidisciplinary environment and matrix organization.
• Experience in late stage optimization and preclinical evaluation of small molecule and peptide drugs, including a detailed knowledge of the roles of DMPK, drug safety, CMC, formulation etc. Able to define and influence small molecule and peptide drug pre‑clinical development strategy.
• Positive can‑do attitude with excellent communication and collaboration skills and ability to work with cross‑functional scientists. Ability to clearly and concisely convey ideas and opinions.
• Highly motivated and flexible with ability to work in fast‑paced environment. Ability to provide novel creative solutions to challenging problems. Desire to learn and tackle new challenges and initiatives.
• Professionally represents the organization in collaborations, partnership discussions, and external relationships and conferences.
• Proven track record of scientific contributions in life science as evidenced by quality and quantity of publications/presentations/inventions and/or products and clinical candidates.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Leads chemistry and peptide chemistry and/or cross‑functional teams (in house and with partners) in defining and implementing strategies for hit identification, hit‑to‑tool optimization, lead optimization and delivery of candidate molecules.
• Responsible for setting strategies, priorities and managing activities to deliver on objectives and milestones.
• Provides expert medicinal chemistry and peptide chemistry input in evaluation of external/partnership opportunities.
• Establishes customized in vitro and in vivo compound testing flow schemes to support programs at all stages.
• Effectively manages internal and external (CRO) chemists. Able to rapidly shift resources and re‑prioritize in response to data.
• Provides expert peptide and conjugation chemistry input in evaluation of external/partnership opportunities, including participating in diligence exercises.
• Demonstrates inter‑disciplinary knowledge of drug discovery (in vitro/in vivo pharmacology, ADME, PK/PD/E, translational research & toxicology) and is able to use this knowledge to influence project strategy.
• Supports early stage programs through a detailed knowledge of state‑of‑the‑art biophysical and biochemical methods and their application to druggability assessment and small molecule hit identification and characterization.
• Writing and submitting grant applications to secure external funding from different agencies and institutes.
• Prepares and organizes data for presentation. Presents written and oral reports to management.
• Publishes original research and review articles in scholarly journals.
• Prepare Patent applications as necessary.

Houston, TX
University of Houston
UH/ERP5 Innovation Center
Labs 121, 121A Office #145