Postdoctoral Fellow - Pharmacology

at  UTMB Health

JOB DESCRIPTION AND RESEARCH PROJECTS:

Functioning independently, the Postdoctoral Researcher in the Bonifazi’s lab. will design, organize and conduct highly specialized and advanced medicinal and organic chemistry experiments using established scientific protocols and procedures and, in some cases, designing new protocols; summarize findings and publish results in research journals; assume general responsibility for scientific operations of the laboratory; provide supervision and guidance to junior technicians, students, and researchers.
The primary research goals are directed toward the design, synthesis, and development of small molecules as pharmacological tools for neuroscience applications and potential therapeutics targeting the central nervous system. Specifically, we primarily target G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Our research has implications for treating locomotor disorders, high-impulsivity behaviors, pain, substance use disorders, sleep and feeding disorders, and comorbidities associated with neuropsychiatric conditions. We combine advanced organic chemistry methodologies, with an emphasis on chiral synthesis, and in vitro cell-/tissue-based radioligand binding assays. These techniques allow us to synthesize, characterize and screen new compounds to generate structure-activity relationships (SAR). We believe in a multidisciplinary approach, collaborating nationally and internationally. Thanks to our collaborators, we integrate in silico models (docking and molecular simulation), pharmacokinetic, molecular pharmacology and CryoEM to predict optimized ligand-target interactions and fine-tune the desired pharmacological profile of the new ligands. These efforts have the fundamental goal of advancing new lead candidates in in vivo pre-clinical models.

JOB DESCRIPTION:

The postdoctoral fellow will conduct, report and present research in his/her field of study under the supervision of a faculty mentor. This is a training position, and is not expected to be a permanent position.

Please refer the Job description for details