Fifteen (15) PhD Positions in Drug Discovery, FRAGNET consortium, Europe (2016)

In the last ten years, Fragment-Based Lead Discovery FBLD (also known as Fragment-Based Drug Discovery FBDD) has proven to be an effective approach towards the discovery of small molecule compounds (ligands) that can bind to biological target molecules. The key feature of this approach is that ligand discovery begins with the screening of low molecular weight compounds (“fragments”) that have a higher chance of binding to a target in comparison to whole (drug) candidate molecules. Hit fragments are then evolved to compounds with higher affinity by structure-based drug design and synthetic chemistry. The resulting leads can be used as molecular tools to explore biology or as starting points for drug discovery.

The Marie Skłodowska -Curie Innovative Training Network (ITN) FRAGNET is set up to train a new generation of young researchers in the much needed holistic understanding of all aspects of FBLD, thereby enabling them to use the different methods and technologies to develop the next generation of medicines.

Candidates must have a MSc degree or obtain a MSc degree by September 2016

Academic beneficiary partners: Iwan de Esch (Coordinator, VU University Amsterdam, NL), Rod Hubbard (University of York, UK), Georgy Keseru (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, HU), Xavier Barril (Universitat de Barcelona, SP). Industrial beneficiary partners: Ben Davis (Vernalis, UK), Gregg Siegal (Zobio, NL), Helena Danielson (Beactica, SE), Wolfgang Jahnke (Novartis, CH). Partner organizations: GSK (UK), Roche (CH), Servier (FR), IOTA (UK) and 24 Media Labs (NL).

Further details:
http:///www.nature.com