Description

The Department of Medicinal Chemistry and the Center for Natural Products, Drug Discovery and Development (CNPD3) at the University of Florida (https://cnpd3.pharmacy.ufl.edu) invites applications for one non-tenure-track faculty position at the assistant scientist level for the Microbial Genomics core.  The chemical focus of the CNPD3 is on unique natural products, and the goal is to fully exploit the biosynthetic and therapeutic potential of untapped biodiversity for drug discovery.  The Center embraces all aspects of natural products research from discovery, biosynthesis and chemical synthesis, assay development, screening and target identification to drug development.  In addition, the Center is located within the UF Health Science Center complex that includes the College of Pharmacy, the College of Medicine as well as the Emerging Pathogens Institute, Cancer Center, Genetics Institute, McKnight Brain Institute, Center for Translational Research in Neurodegenerative Disease,  Center for Addiction Research and Education and UF Diabetes Institute.  This unique research environment offers excellent opportunities for synergistic collaborations and career development.

Responsibilities:

The Assistant Scientist will work independently and collaboratively to fully harness the biosynthetic potential of a variety of uncultivable and cultivable organisms directly from their (meta) genomic DNAs.  The Center has the privilege to access the samples rich of biodiversity and bioactive natural products, particularly unexplored microbes from marine environments. The highly qualified candidates should have a strong research record in areas of natural products chemistry and biosynthesis, metabolic engineering, and synthetic biology. Additional duties of the role will include, but are not limited to:

• Identifying and cloning natural products gene clusters for transformation into heterologous hosts;
• Optimizing heterologous expression to produce assayable amounts of active materials from genetic constructs in model and/or newly developed hosts;
• Assisting the development of intramural and extramural collaborative projects;
• Assisting grant development;
• Mentoring undergraduate and graduate students.

Qualifications

Minimum: 

Doctorate degree is related field. 

Preferred:

Strong research record in areas of natural products chemistry and biosynthesis, metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, protein science, analytic chemistry, assay development and others relevant to drug discovery and development. Additional preferred qualifications will include, but not limited to:

• Demonstrated expertise in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology with model organisms (e.g., proteobacteria, cyanobacteria, actinomycetes, and yeast);
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and collaboratively as part of a team;
• Being able to multi-task with multiple projects and keeping pace in a dynamic research environment;
• Advanced bioinformatics background;
• Independent in literature search and literature update;
• Excellent oral and writing communication skills.