Job Description
The Department of Chemistry at Virginia Tech is seeking a motivated postdoctoral associate for an NIH-funded, collaborative, chemical biology project to elucidate the mechanism of action of the antimalarial drug mefloquine. Malaria imposes an enormous burden on public health, particularly in Africa, and is responsible for nearly half a million deaths annually. Despite being used clinically for nearly 40 years, the target of mefloquine in the malaria parasite remains to be discovered. Target identification would have a major impact in the field of antimalarial drug discovery given the urgent need for a sustained drug development pipeline and the paucity of validated antimalarial targets.
Working in the laboratory of Dr. Paul Carlier, the postdoctoral associate will synthesize clickable, photoactivatable probes based on the mefloquine pharmacophore. Feasibility of probe synthesis has been established in a previous study (Ghavami et al (2016), Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 26 4846). On-target antimalarial activity of novel probes will be assessed in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Klemba (Department of Biochemistry) using phenotypic and parasite growth inhibition assays. Active probes will be deployed to covalently label and affinity purify therapeutically-relevant target proteins from cultured malaria parasites. Protein identification will be conducted in collaboration with the Virginia Tech Mass Spectrometry Incubator.
Duties and responsibilities:
• research activities (high degree of independence in the design and execution of experiments and analysis of data)
• maintain accurate records of laboratory activities
• assist with laboratory organization, management, and personnel training
• present results in lab meetings and at local and national scientific conferences
• follow and exhibit proper safety practices; contribute to the lab's safety culture