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University of Bergen

The University of Bergen is a renowned educational and research institution, organised into seven faculties and approximately 54 institutes and academic centres. Campus is located in the centre of Bergen with university areas at Nygårdshøyden, Haukeland, Marineholmen, Møllendalsveien and Årstad.

There are five departments and seven centres at Faculty of Medicine. Read More about the faculty and departments.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow position

At the Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biomedicine in the group of Professor Ruth Brenk (http://www.uib.no/en/rg/brenk) a full-time (100 %) position as Postdoctoral Fellow is available for a period of 3 years. The position is part of the project “RESPONsible early Digital Drug Discovery – RESPOND3: Towards better computational approaches and responsible innovation strategies in early drug discovery: application to antibiotics and COPD” financed by The Research Council of Norway.

About the project/work tasks:

The RESPOND3 project is part of the Centre for Digital Live Norway (https://digitallifenorway.org/) and is a cross disciplinary collaboration between research groups at the Centre for Advanced studies in Biomedical Innovation Law at the University of Copenhagen, the Department of Computing, Mathematics and Physics at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, the Department of Biomedicine at the Faculty of Medicine and at the Department of Chemistry at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Bergen. The main focus of RESPOND3 will be hit and lead optimization for targets for antibiotics (SAM riboswitch) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (proteinase 3) guided by the use of computational methods

The main objectives for the position are

• to determine the crystal structures of target-ligand complexes
• to determine compound activities with binding and kinetic assays
• to supervise master- and PhD students

Qualifications and personal qualities:

• The candidate must hold a PhD-degree within the field of pharmacy, biochemistry, biophysics, molecular biology or a related discipline or have the doctoral dissertation submitted and approved prior within the closing date of the application. It is a condition for appointment that the PhD has been awarded.
• The candidate must have documented experience in the following areas:
  • Recombinant protein expression and purification
  • Determination of inhibition values against proteinase 3
  • Work experience in a multidisciplinary team including medicinal chemists and biologists
• Additional experience in any of the following fields will be an advantage:
  • X-ray crystallography of macromolecules
  • Determination of binding constants with surface plasmon resonance (SPR)
  • In vitro transcription of RNA
• Experience in several of the listed areas will also be advantageous.
• A structured approach to work and excellent communication skills and fluency in both written and spoken English are required.
• The candidate must demonstrate a strong commitment and motivation for hit discovery and optimization as part of a multidisciplinary team and for research in general.
• Personal skills will be emphasized. The candidate must be able to work independently and interactively in a team setting, be motivated and responsible, and also have a great work capacity and enthusiasm for research.
• Prior publication record will be of importance.

Personal and relational qualities will be emphasized. Research experience, ambitions and potential will also count when evaluating the candidates.

About the position of postdoctoral research fellow:

The position of postdoctoral research fellow is a fixed-term appointment with the primary objective of qualifying the appointee for work in top academic positions. You can not be employed as a postdoctoral fellow for more than one fixed term period at the same institution. Also, you cannot be employed in a postdoctoral position if you have previously held this type of position at a different institution in the region.

Upon appointment, applicants must submit a project proposal for the qualifying work including a work schedule. It is a requirement that the project is completed in the course of the period of employment.

The employee may be assigned up to 25 % required duties in the form of teaching and similar work at the department.

We can offer:

• a challenging and cross-disciplinary work environment in research front of hit discovery and optimisation
• exciting development opportunities as part of your role in a strong professional environment
• salary level 59 (code 1352/pay framework 24.3) at present NOK 515 200 gross p.a. on the government salary scale. Further promotion will be after service seniority in the position.
• enrolment in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• good welfare benefits

Your application must include:

• a brief account of the applicant`s research interests and motivation for applying for the position
• transcripts and diplomas (applicants with education from other countries than Norway must enclose witnessed diplomas in both the original language and authorized translations) and documentation of approved doctoral thesis
• complete list of publications
• publications (pdf) it is important that each of the scholarly works on which the committee should place special emphasis, is attached in its entirety
• two referees (name and contact information)

General information:

For further information, please contact:

• Ruth Brenk, e-mail: ruth.brenk@uib.no, phone: +47 55 58 60 70

The state labour force shall reflect the diversity of Norwegian society to the greatest extent possible. People with immigrant backgrounds and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply for the position.

The University of Bergen applies the principle of public access to information when recruiting staff for academic positions.

Information about applicants may be made public even if the applicant has asked not to be named on the list of persons who have applied. The applicant must be notified if the request to be omitted is not met.

Further information about our employment process can be found here.

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