Senior Cryo-EM Scientist

at  Astex Pharmaceuticals

Astex Pharmaceuticals is a world leader in innovative drug discovery and development. The company has successfully applied its proprietary Fragment-Based Drug Discovery platform to generate multiple new drug candidates that are progressing in clinical development. Successful collaborations have led to three launched oncology drugs (Kisqali® partnered with Novartis, Balversa® partnered with Janssen and Truqap™ partnered with AstraZeneca). Astex continues to grow and focuses on Neurological Disorders and Oncology.
Astex has established a state of the art, in-house, cryo-EM facility, including two Glacios and one Krios transmission electron microscopes, a fully equipped cryo-EM sample preparation laboratory and extensive computing infrastructure. We have also developed custom data collection and processing workflows to facilitate the rapid generation and interpretation of cryo-EM structures for Structure- and Fragment- Based Drug Discovery. Our commitment to the continued development of the cryo-EM platform means we now have an opening for a talented and experienced cryo-EM practitioner to join the Molecular Sciences group at Astex. The position is based in Cambridge, UK.

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

The ideal candidate will hold a PhD in single particle analysis and have 2-5+ years of post-doctoral, or equivalent, experience. The candidate should have a proven track record of using cryo-EM to solve challenging EM structural biology problems and of innovating in the EM technology space. The candidate should be able to demonstrate expertise in the following areas:

Essential:

• Performing single particle cryo-EM on a spectrum of challenging targets. This should include optimizing sample grid preparation, data collection and processing strategies to facilitate high resolution structure determination
• Setup and operation of microscopes, including optimisation of data acquisition parameters
• Processing of single particle cryo-EM data and familiarity with cryo-EM software packages
• Driving innovation in cryo-EM technologies, spanning sample preparation to map interpretation
• Excellent communication skills, creativity, and self-motivation
• The ability to work independently, and as part of multi-disciplinary teams

You will join a multi-disciplinary team that is tasked with developing and enhancing Astex’s cryo-EM technology platform and providing high resolution cryo-EM structures of protein-ligand complexes to support and guide multiple structure-based drug discovery programs. We are seeking an individual to innovate within the EM technology space and who will help to enhance our existing EM hardware and software capabilities, through close collaboration with in-house cryo-EM experimentalists and software developers.