Qualified applicants can submit their CV and cover letter directly to rebecca.laposa@utoronto.ca

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The Laposa laboratory at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, in partnership with the Drug Discovery group at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR), seeks a highly motivated postdoctoral fellow to take a leadership role in advancing an early-stage drug discovery project in cancer metabolism. In this role, you will drive the biochemical assay development stage for small-molecule drug discovery related to a mitochondrial target. You will develop mitochondrial assays suitable for drug screening and hit verification. Excellent interpersonal and collaboration skills are required; you will act as the primary biochemistry liaison with the University of Toronto scientists, the Medicinal Chemistry team at the OICR and the clinical oncology team at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. The biochemical assays will be foundation of hit expansion work and structure-activity relationships as we advance this drug discovery project towards more potent and specific inhibitors of the enzyme target. The postdoctoral fellow will demonstrate excellent project management and time management skills for this milestone-driven project to advance the work towards commercialization.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will have a recent Ph.D. in fields such as Pharmacology and Toxicology, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Chemical Biology or related fields. Prior experience with the execution of biochemical assays for enzyme targets is preferred. Demonstrated skills in inventiveness, innovation and assay design are an asset, along with troubleshooting and leveraging insights from the literature to improve experimental procedures. Familiarity with the drug development process and with mitochondrial bioenergetics is an advantage, but not required.

Key Duties

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 You will develop biochemical assays and apply your understanding of enzyme function and kinetics to deliver an optimized and validated biochemical assay for drug screening.

 In collaboration with medicinal chemists at OICR, you will conduct the above biochemical assays, as well as additional assays developed by the Laposa laboratory previously. Your goal will be to utilize these assays to confirm hits and to generate structure-activity relationships for novel small molecules.

 You will demonstrate professionalism and exceptional attention to detail.

 Your communication and interpersonal skills will strengthen the collaborative relationships with the chemistry and clinical teams.