Johnson & Johnson is seeking a POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW – COMPUTER AIDED DRUG DESIGN (CADD) to join a team of talented postdocs in the CADD - ISD&EI department. This position is located in Spring House, PA!

At the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, we are working to create a world without disease. Transforming lives by finding new and better ways to prevent, intercept, treat and cure disease inspires us. We bring together the best minds and pursue the most promising science. We are Janssen. We collaborate with the world for the health of everyone in it. Learn more at www.janssen.com and follow us @JanssenGlobal. Janssen Research & Development, LLC is part of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies.

The Janssen R&D Discovery, Product Development, & Supply (DPDS) Postdoctoral Fellowship Program helps early career scientists gain the training and experience needed to further their careers, while addressing the needs of global healthcare. Janssen DPDS Postdocs work side-by-side with Janssen scientists on innovative research projects and have the opportunity to present and publish their work. They also learn the functional role of scientists in the pharmaceutical industry and receive valuable career advice from mentors while building a network of professional contacts and developing the skills needed to advance their careers.

Targeted protein degradation (TPD) has recently evolved into a promising novel therapeutic modality, exemplified by multiple TPD compounds in the clinic to date. This approach employs a small molecule (PROTAC) to recruit a target protein of interest to the E3 ligase to promote ubiquitination and subsequent degradation of the target by the proteasomal machinery. The formation of a ternary complex (PROTAC, target protein and E3 ligase) has been shown to be crucial for efficient protein degradation. Insight into the ternary complexes and their stabilizing factors could enable more rapid discovery of improved PROTAC molecules, and thus, computational modeling approaches have been highly sought after. Current methodologies, however, are computationally intensive, which limits their scope of application.

This project will aim at developing computational techniques that can be applied within families of closely related PROTACS, in order to improve the efficiency of current TPD modeling approaches. Of particular interest is understanding the effects of modifications to the PROTAC linker region (the central portion of the molecule connecting the target protein and E3 ligase), which can play a central role in ternary complex formation. The Postdoctoral Fellow will apply a range of computational approaches to this problem including simulation-based methods, protein-protein docking, PROTAC conformational assessments, cheminformatics and ML/AI. As part of this effort, data sets will be compiled for training and testing purposes using public and proprietary series. Resulting knowledge will be used to propose customizations to existing workflows in TPD ternary complex modeling in a lead optimization scenario.

THE CANDIDATE’S RESPONSIBILITIES WILL INCLUDE:

• Develop, implement and deliver models/workflows to predict effects of linker modifications on ternary complex structures within PROTAC series

• Compile consistent data sets for model training based on literature and in-house PROTAC projects

• Apply the models/workflows to guide linker syntheses in a PROTAC optimization scenario

• Development, training, conferences, internal meetings & symposia

• High impact publications of project work

QUALIFICATIONS

REQUIRED MINIMUM EDUCATION

• PhD Required Years of Related Experience: 0-1

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:

• Experience with computational chemistry software and physics-based simulations of macromolecular systems including one or more of the following areas:

  • Molecular dynamics (highly preferred)

  • Protein-protein docking

  • Ligand conformational flexibility

  • Cheminformatics

• Experience with protein/ligand modeling

• Experience with a scripting package or programming language such as Pipeline Pilot, Knime, or Python

• Experience using Linux/UNIX

• Motivation to carry out innovative, high-quality scientific work in an industrial setting and publish in high-impact journals

• The ability to work individually (independently) as well as on a team

• Strong oral and written communication, interpersonal, and collaboration skills

Johnson & Johnson is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.

For more information on how we support the whole health of our employees throughout their wellness, career and life journey, please visit www.careers.jnj.com.]

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