Research Assistant in Medicinal Chemistry

About Us

The Institute of Pharmaceutical Science (IPS) at KCL supports world class fundamental and applied research across the full spectrum of pharmaceutical science, from drug discovery through biophysical and biological characterization, pharmacology, formulation, drug delivery and use of medicines, with a strong culture of multi-disciplinary collaboration and links to clinical colleagues evidenced by awards of major grants from organisations such as MRC, BBSRC and NC3Rs. The medicinal chemistry laboratory of IPS has been recently refurbished and modernized with new equipment and facilities, and the selected candidate will be based at the medicinal chemistry laboratory at Franklin Wilkins Building.

About The Role

Inflammation drives the pathogenesis of many respiratory disorders. Established anti-inflammatory medications (e.g. glucocorticosteriods or PDE4 inhibitors) have questionable efficacy in the majority of COPD patients. Patients often suffer side effects (eg increased pneumonia risk in patients administered glucocorticosteroids; dose limiting gastrointestinal side effects with PDE4 inhibitors). Furthermore, current drugs are delivered via the inhaled route, and cannot address the issue of systemic inflammation in COPD patients that increases the likelihood of disease exacerbations, or inflammation-driven co-morbidities (e.g. cardiovascular disease) that are also life threatening.

Research into the inflammasome; and inflammatory resolving pathways are novel competing strategies, however these retain a risk of immunosuppression. Our approach is advantageous because: 1, systemic platelet activation during inflammation is a critical process that does not carry operational redundancy; 2, targeting biased P2Y1 signalling associated with inflammation eliminates side effects associated with haemostasis eg unwanted bleeding; 3, rapid anti-inflammatory effects are induced by targeting platelet activation; 4, regular platelet turnover means drug effects can be 'washed out' if needs be; 5, we have proven local (lung) efficacy via systemic administration of our tool compounds.

The project will provide data to allow comparisons between chemical scaffolds (involve synthesis of novel structures chosen from understanding of initial series of compounds and their performance from MRC grant MR/T015845/1) in terms of measurements of efficacy using a validated in vivo model of respiratory disease (COPD), therapeutic dosing strategy to determine duration of action, (in house); pharmacokinetic (PK) data, and early safety profiles (maximum tolerated dose MTD) outsourced to Eurofins.

This is a 0.5 FTE post, you will be offered an a fixed term contract until 30/09/2026.

About You

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

• MSc in Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Chemistry or Pharmacy.
• Practical experience of C-C, N-C and amide coupling reactions, protection-deprotection chemistry and multi-step synthesis
• Knowledge of small-molecule characterization using NMR, IR, UV, Mass and HPLC techniques
• Knowledge of software packages, including Word, Excel and chemical structure drawing and bibliographic programmes
• Knowledge of analytical and preparative LC_MS techniques
• Track record of published research in peer-reviewed journals of international standing
• Research experience in Synthetic and Medicinal Chemistry

Desirable criteria

• Experience in chemistry laboratory management including electronic inventory maintenance
• Record of presenting scientific research at national/international conferences
• Experience in operating LC-MS system
• Excellent interpersonal skills

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further Information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

As part of this commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and through this appointment process, it is our aim to develop candidate pools that include applicants from all backgrounds and communities.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ' How we Recruit ' pages.

Interviews are due to be held in January/February.