Senior Staff Scientist

at  University of Toronto

Date Posted: 03/20/2024
Req ID:30502
Faculty/Division: Faculty of Arts & Science
Department: Acceleration Consortium
Campus: St. George (Downtown Toronto)

DESCRIPTION:

The Acceleration Consortium (AC) at the University of Toronto (U of T) is leading a transformative shift in scientific discovery that will accelerate technology development and commercialization. The AC is a global community of academia, industry, and government that leverages the power of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, materials sciences, and high-throughput chemistry to create self-driving laboratories (SDLs), also called materials acceleration platforms (MAPs). These autonomous labs rapidly design materials and molecules needed for a sustainable, healthy, and resilient future, with applications ranging from renewable energy and consumer electronics to drugs. AC Staff Scientists will advance the infield of AI-driven autonomous discovery and develop the materials and molecules required to address society’s largest challenges, such as climate change, water pollution, and future pandemics.
The Acceleration Consortium received a $200M Canadian First Research Excellence Grant for seven years to develop self-driving labs for chemistry and materials, the largest ever grant to a Canadian University. This grant will provide the Acceleration Consortium with seven years of funding to execute its vision.
The AC is developing seven advanced SDLs. These include:
1. Inorganic solid-state materials,
2. Organic small molecules for advanced materials,
3. Drug discovery with chemical probes,
4. Polymers for materials science and biological applications,
5. Formulations for pharmaceuticals, consumer products, and coatings,
6. Biocompatibility (organ-on-a-chip), and
7. Synthetic scale-up of materials and molecules.
We are hiring staff scientists to develop the hardware and software needs for each of these SDLs and to conduct research programs levering these labs for materials and molecule discovery.
The Staff Scientists involved in the AC are highly skilled and experienced researchers who will work independently to develop the AI and automation technologies required to build robust and scalable self-driving labs, manage these SDLs, and design and implement research programs (based on the direction of the AC’s scientific leadership team) that leverage the SDL platforms to discover materials and molecules. This role will report to the Academic Director and Executive Director of the Acceleration Consortium. We are looking for individuals with diverse backgrounds and expertise to support the development of Self-Driving Labs and materials discovery.
The Staff Scientists will work with a diverse team of leading experts at the U of T, including Alàn Aspuru-Guzik, Christine Allen, Cheryl Arrowsmith, Frank Gu, Jason Hattrick-Simpers, Anatole von Lilienfeld, Milica Radisic, Sophie Rousseaux, Florian Shkurti, Dwight Seferos, Dave Sinton, and Helen Tran.
The background of the team hired will cover the following topics. Candidates that have experience in several or as many of the areas below will be prioritized:

Artificial Intelligence / Automation

• Machine Learning for Molecules and Materials
• Physical, theoretical and/or computational chemistry
• Robotics
• Experimental planning and design/optimal control
• Programming and high-performance computing
• Cheminformatics

Automated Chemical Synthesis and Characterization

• High-throughput materials synthesis and processing (polymers, inorganic and organic molecules (including lipids))
• Nanomaterial synthesis and characterization
• Polymer physics
• Structural, electrochemical, and microstructural characterization of materials and molecules
• Screening electrocatalytic conversion
• Analytical chemistry and separation method development
• Chemical reactions and analytics
• GLP formulation skills
• Electrochemistry
• Organic synthesis methodology development

Drug Discovery / Medicinal Chemistry

• Medicinal chemistry
• Protein biophysics/biochemistry
• Mass spectrometry
• Controlled release properties and processes

Organ on a chip / Organoid

• Pluripotent stem cell differentiation
• Molecular biology
• Toxicology pharmacology

The components and duties of the work include:
1. SDL and Automation Development
Working with the AC community, including faculty and partners, to determine the required capabilities of the SDLs to be built. Developing the plans for SDLs that will meet user requirements and designing novel instruments for automated material synthesis and characterization. Developing customized hardware and Python software packages to build SDLs. Selecting, procurement, and installation of the equipment required for SDLs.
2. Facility Management and Operations

Working with the Department of Chemistry, Facilities and Operations, and AC research staff to ensure the AC labs are fully operational.

• Overseeing the activity of the laboratory technicians servicing the labs
• Supporting the selection, procurement, and installation of equipment
• Managing laboratory budgets
• Scheduling and coordinating lab access

1. Research Direction
   Working as a co-investigator, in partnership with the Principal Investigator, independent management, development, and execution of research programs that leverage the AC’s SDLs and support the research objectives of AC faculty and industry partners. Using SDLs to synthesize and characterize large quantities of candidate molecules, calibrating theoretical models with experimental data, predicting promising candidates with computational tools and machine learning algorithms, and elucidating structure-property relationships of emerging molecules, polymers, solid-state materials, formulations, etc.

Tasks include:

• Managing the research and development projects of AC’s industry partners when implemented in AC labs.
• Developing plans to support research collaborations and estimate financial resources required for programs and/or projects.
• Supervising the work of Staff Scientists, Software Engineers, Research Associates, and Post-doctoral Fellows.
• Working with Product Managers to ensure research outcomes meet partner requirements.
• Monitoring and reporting on relevant research activity to the Academic Director and Executive Director.
• Promoting AC’s research capacity, including delivering presentations at conferences.
• Collaboration in preparing and submitting research proposals to granting agencies and progress reporting.
• Preparing manuscripts for submission to peer review publications/journals and stewarding them through the process.

1. Other

• Supporting consulting services related to the application of SDLs for materials discovery for the AC’s partners.
• Support research-focused events such as Annual Symposium

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

Education – Ph.D. in chemistry, materials science, life sciences, physics, engineering, robotics, computer science, or related discipline

EXPERIENCE

• Ten (10) years of experience in research and development, preferably with significant experience in Physical, Material, Medicinal, and/or Analytical Artificial Intelligence for Chemistry, Materials or Drug Discovery.
• Experience working closely with a Principal Investigator or as a Principal Investigator or as Project Director with responsibilities of managing, developing and executing a major research project
• Strong experience and expert knowledge of AI and automation.
• Experience with overseeing the activities of a lab
• Experience working with industry partners and on industry lead research and development projects
• Strong experience presenting research at academic conferences
• Experience managing research staff.
• Experience managing a laboratory budget and procuring equipment
• Demonstrated record of academic and/or research excellence.
• Must have a strong scholarly publication record

Skills

• Strong in communicating effectively and efficiently in oral and written English
• Collegial in working with team members and collaborators;
• Ability to work independently

• Managing the research and development projects of AC’s industry partners when implemented in AC labs.
• Developing plans to support research collaborations and estimate financial resources required for programs and/or projects.
• Supervising the work of Staff Scientists, Software Engineers, Research Associates, and Post-doctoral Fellows.
• Working with Product Managers to ensure research outcomes meet partner requirements.
• Monitoring and reporting on relevant research activity to the Academic Director and Executive Director.
• Promoting AC’s research capacity, including delivering presentations at conferences.
• Collaboration in preparing and submitting research proposals to granting agencies and progress reporting.
• Preparing manuscripts for submission to peer review publications/journals and stewarding them through the process