Research Fellow – Computational Biologist – Protein Design

• Institute for Molecular Bioscience

• Join a university ranked in the world’s top 50

• Collaborate with highly awarded, world-class colleagues

• Genuine career progression opportunities via our academic promotions process  

• Based at our picturesque and Vibrant St Lucia Campus

About UQ

As part of the UQ community, you’ll have the opportunity to work alongside the brightest minds, who have joined us from all over the world, and within an environment where interdisciplinary collaborations are encouraged.

At the core of our teaching remains our students, and their experience with us sets a foundation for success far beyond graduation. UQ has made a commitment to making education opportunities available for all Queenslanders, regardless of personal, financial, or geographical barriers.

As part of our commitment to excellence in research and professional practice in academic contexts, we are proud to provide our staff with access to world-class facilities and equipment, grant writing support, greater research funding opportunities, and other forms of staff support and development.

About This Opportunity 

A postdoctoral position is available in the groups of Professor David Craik and Dr Conan Wang to use computational and machine learning methods to predict protein structures, predict peptide and protein interactions, and design new peptide drugs and crop protection agents. The work is funded by the Australian Research Council.
This appointee will be responsible for using computational tools to design peptides to bind specifically to a protein drug target. This will involve coordination with scientists undertaking recombinant expression of protein targets, screening of molecular libraries, chemical synthesis of peptides, and characterisation of peptide structure and activity. Experience in molecular biology will be considered favourably.

Seeking an outcome driven scientist who wants to produce real outcomes to translate peptides into commercial development. The position is advertised at Level A, but we are able to consider Level B candidates if they have experience from the pharmaceutical industry (or equivalent) and are particularly experienced in computational analysis of peptide biopharmaceutical properties.

Key responsibilities include:  

1. Research

• Produces quality research outputs by publishing or exhibiting in high quality outlets. For Level B, undertake a lead role in some outputs.

• Participate in applications for competitive research funding

• Work with colleagues in the development of joint research projects and applications for competitive research funding support. For Level B, contribute as chief investigator role.

• Contribute to progressing towards transfer of knowledge, technology and practices to research end users through translation.

• Develop a coherent research program and an emerging research profile.

• Review and draw upon best practice research methodologies.

• For Level B, develop an independent and/ or team research program to achieve national recognition and impact.

2. Supervision and Researcher Development

• Contribute to the effective supervision of Honours and Higher Degree by Research students (as appropriate). For Level B, demonstrate an effective track record of supervision of HDR students.

• Demonstrates personal effectiveness in supervision and the management of researcher development.

• Effectively lead and develop supervise by providing feedback, coaching, and professional development.

• As appropriate, manage research support staff effectively throughout the employee lifecycle in accordance with University policy and procedures.

This is a research focused position. Further information can be found by viewing UQ’s Criteria for Academic Performance .

This is a Full-time, 100% FTE Fixed-term position through to April 2026.

At Academic level A the full-time equivalent base salary will be in the range $77,324.85 - $102,945.12, plus a generous super allowance of up to 17%. The total FTE package will be up to $90,470.08 - $120,445.79 annually.

At Academic level B, the full-time equivalent base salary will be in the range $108,201.26 - $128,201.75, plus a generous super allowance of up to 17%. The total FTE package will be up to $126,595.47 - $149,996.05 annually.

The greater benefits of joining the UQ community are broad:  from being part of a Group of Eight university, to recognition of prior service with other Australian universities, up to 26 weeks of paid parental leave, 17.5% annual leave loading, and genuine career progression opportunities via the academic promotions process.

About You  

• Completion or near completion of a PhD in the discipline area.

• An emerging profile in research in the discipline area.

• Evidence of publications in reputed refereed journals and presenting at conferences.

• Strong computational skills, including proficiency working in a POSIX-like operating system, experience programming and scripting, experience with machine learning, and experience with Rosetta and AlphaFold

• Additional experience with molecular biology techniques, e.g., PCR, recombinant expression, recombinant display libraries, would be considered favourably

• Some experience in meaningful internal service roles and contributions towards external activities

• The successful applicant will be highly motivated, outcome driven and a team player.

• For Level B, track record of supervision of HDR students and evidence of contributions towards successfully obtaining external research funding.  

• Some experience in meaningful internal service roles and contributions towards external activities

• For Level B, track record of supervision of HDR students and evidence of contributions towards successfully obtaining external research funding.

In addition, the following mandatory requirements apply:

• Work Rights: You must have unrestricted work rights in Australia for the duration of this appointment to apply. Visa sponsorship is not available for this appointment. 

• Mandatory Immunisations: It is a condition of employment for this role that you will be required to provide evidence of immunisation against certain vaccine preventable diseases.

• Background Checks: All final applicants for this position may be asked to consent to a criminal record check. Please note that people with criminal records are not automatically barred from applying for this position. Each application will be considered on its merits. 

Questions? 

For more information about this opportunity, please contact Professor David Craik, [email protected] .   

For application queries, please contact [email protected] stating the job reference number (below) in the subject line.

Want to Apply? 

All applicants must upload the following documents in order for your application to be considered:

• Cover letter addressing Selection Criteria   

• Resume  

Other Information 

At UQ we know that our greatest strengths come from our diverse mix of colleagues, this is reflected in our ongoing commitment to creating an environment focused on equity, diversity and inclusion .  We ensure that we are always attracting, retaining and promoting colleagues who are representative of the diversity in the broader community, whether that be gender identity , LGBTQIA+ , cultural and/or linguistic , Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples , or people with a disability . Accessibility requirements and/or adjustments can be directed to [email protected] .

If you are a current employee (including casual staff and HDR scholars) or hold an unpaid/affiliate appointment, please login to your staff Workday account and visit the internal careers board to apply for this opportunity. Please do NOT apply via the external job board.

Applications close Wednesday 13 March 2024 at 11.00pm AEST (R-36005).