We are seeking a talented and highly motivated computational chemist with a strong background in Structure Based Drug Design to join our team. The Nurix mission is to control protein fate to treat human diseases by leveraging an exciting new drug discovery technology called targeted protein degradation, working on many classes of drug targets.
The successful candidate will develop and apply state-of-the-art computational software, computer aided drug design and simulation techniques as part of a highly integrated team of computational chemists, structural biologists, medicinal chemists and discovery biologists. Your creative thinking will push forward the frontiers of modelling for targeted protein degradation, which includes a class of compounds that fall outside of the small molecule chemical space. Since these compounds bridge the targeted protein and degrader protein, you will develop methods to describe these complexes from a 3-dimensional standpoint, and work with medicinal chemists and others to optimize the interactions of these compounds in the overall complex formed. You will work closely with DNA encoded library technologies to help drive hit discovery. You will be part of a dynamic multi-disciplinary team focused on moving projects from the hit identification stage to the discovery of clinical candidates
Qualifications:
- Ph.D. in Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Computer Science, Bioinformatics, Biochemistry, Biophysics, or related disciplines
- Demonstrated skills in computer aided drug design
- Excellent understanding of protein-ligand interactions and the physiochemical properties of compounds
- Practical working experience in computational chemistry software (e.g. Schrodinger, OpenEye, others)
- Proven track record in one or more of the following: docking studies, virtual screening, druggability analysis, structure-based design for lead optimization, free energy perturbation and MD simulation
- Excellent communication of design rationale, key experimental results, issues and accomplishments in appropriate verbal and written form
- Solid track record of scientific accomplishment demonstrated by publications, patents, or presentations
- Maintains an excellent scientific expertise in the latest developments in computational chemistry
- Good ability to manage own priorities and deliverables, both independently and in the team setting
- Ability to work effectively in a highly interdisciplinary team and able to prioritize tasks across multiple projects
- Working knowledge of medicinal, synthetic, and physical organic chemistry principles
- Software development skills in a modern programming language (eg Python) and developing computational workflows is a strong plus
- Industry or comparable academic experience with small molecule drug design (0-3+ years)
Fit with Nurix Culture and Values
- Strong team orientation; highly collaborative
- Solutions and results-oriented focus
- Hands-on approach; resourceful and open to diverse points of view
Company:
Nurix Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of small molecule therapies designed to modulate cellular protein levels as a novel treatment approach for cancer and immune disorders. Leveraging Nurix’s extensive expertise in E3 ligases together with its proprietary DNA-encoded libraries, Nurix has built DELigase, an integrated discovery platform to identify and advance novel drug candidates targeting E3 ligases, a broad class of enzymes that can modulate proteins within the cell. Nurix’s drug discovery approach is to either harness or inhibit the natural function of E3 ligases within the ubiquitin proteasome system to selectively decrease or increase cellular protein levels.
Nurix’s wholly owned pipeline comprises targeted protein degraders of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase, a B-cell signaling protein, and inhibitors of Casitas B-lineage lymphoma proto-oncogene-B, an E3 ligase that regulates T cell activation. Nurix is headquartered in San Francisco, California.