PhD Studentship: Integrated Analysis of Chemical and Biological Data
Unilever Centre for Molecular Science Informatics
Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge
http://www-ucc.ch.cam.ac.uk

Limit of tenure applies*

A PhD studentship is available in the group led by Dr. Andreas Bender
(http://www.ch.cam.ac.uk/staff/ab.html) at the Unilever Center for
Molecular Sciences Informatics. This is part of an initiative of
integrating and mining chemical and biological data with the aim to
modulate biological systems by hypothesis-based chemistry design. 

The research project will comprise the integration of various sorts of
chemical and biological data sources in the first instance, which
comprises as a main focus ligand bioactivity, pathways, and phenotypic
databases. Thereafter, data mining tools will be developed and applied
to the federated data with the goal in mind to devise novel bioactive
compounds with a desired activity profile thereafter. Hence, this work
holds great promise for all areas where the modulation of biological
systems via chemical tools is performed, such as the pharmaceutical world,
but also with applications to consumer products.    

Applicants should have obtained, or expect to obtain, at least the
equivalent of a II.1 UK honours degree in Chemistry, Biology or a
related scientific discipline, and must have a good background knowledge
in both the life sciences and either data mining or computer science (or
a related subject). Familiarity with data mining of chemical structures
or systems biology is desirable but not a prerequisite. Applicants must be
 either UK or European Union citizens to be eligible for this project.
 
The studentship is available from 1 October 2010. Applications should
include a CV and contact details for two professional referees, and
should be sent to Dr. Andreas Bender, Department of Chemistry, Lensfield
Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, or (preferably) by e-mail to ab454!=!cam.ac.uk. 

* Limit of tenure: 3 years.