Research Scientist

We have a new opportunity for a Research Scientist who will join a dynamic and fast-moving team and will be primarily responsible for the design and synthesis of novel Bicycles and conjugates with a goal of developing lead candidates. In this role you will be required to manage external resources to deliver on synthetic and analytical tasks and will also work collaboratively with the scientific team in a project team environment to progress Bicycle’s oncology pipeline.

You will have demonstrated a good level of proficiency in modern synthetic organic / medicinal chemistry as applied to drug discovery and lead optimization of small molecules and peptides and will have experience in the application of structure based design, the use of non-natural amino acids, linkers and conjugation chemistries. You will work as part of the Medicinal Chemistry team and will contribute to the chemical optimisation of Bicycle monomers and the design and synthesis of Bicycle oncology agents via external CRO partners. For project centric activities, data and progress review, the role will involve close interaction with the Platform, Biology, DMPK and in vivo Pharmacology teams.

Key responsibilities:

• Supporting chemistry activities within a project team, including the design of bioactive Bicycle® peptides to a set Target Product Profile
• Serve on internal project teams, communicate with project team and colleagues effectively and work well with others to meet experimental and organizational goals.
• Present the results of research activities effectively in oral or written form to line manager, project team members and management level meetings.
• Coordinate chemistry at external contract research organizations (CROs) including maintaining a good relationship, development of chemistry plans, project tracking, data and compound management, evaluation of results and analytical data including NMR, LCMS, HPLC, UV-VIS and troubleshooting synthetic issues.
• Prepare reports and contribute to drafting patent filings and journal manuscripts
• Supporting the development of new innovations which expand the company platform

Requirements

Essential:

• Relevant industry or academic experience in contemporary medicinal chemistry and in the design and synthesis of bioactive peptides and conjugates in preclinical drug discovery programs
• Experience in interpreting SAR data desirable (activity, selectivity, DMPK characteristics, physical properties etc.)
• Demonstrated experience in managing external (CRO, CMO) resources to accomplish project tasks
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to work independently, flexibly and reliably, prioritizing accordingly to the company objectives
• Team player who collaborates and communicates effectively in team environment. Comfortable sharing knowledge with wider company team and, as appropriate, report work to the scientific or industry community
• Innovative, entrepreneurial, enjoys working in a fast-paced environment

Desirable:

• Experience in peptide chemistry research while not essential is highly desirable
• Experience in developing drug conjugates or radiopharmaceuticals
• Use of structure based drug design and the use of computational modelling and data analysis software to support drug development activities