(Senior) Post Doctoral Fellow (polymer chemist) in the School of
Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
at Nanyang
Technological University (Singapore)
The
Centre for Antimicrobial Bioengineering at the School of Chemical and
Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological
University (Singapore) is seeking candidates to work as (Senior) Post-Doctoral
researchers to design and synthesize cationic multiblock
polymers such as alpha-polypeptides, ATRP or RAFT polymers, beta polypeptides, polyphosphorester, etc and their
conjugates which will be used antimicrobial drugs.
The
candidate will work in an integrated team of Microbiologists and Chemists to design
and synthesize new antimicrobial
polymers/peptides/copolymers/polysaccharides that will inhibit Gram
negative and Gram positive pathogens as well as Mycobacteria and fungal
pathogens. The goal is to design and
synthesize active compounds, that are non-toxic to mammalian cells, and that
represent lead compounds for drug development.
Environment
The work
will be conducted within the Centre for Antimicrobial Bioengineering (CAMB) in
collaboration with the Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences and
Engineering (SCELSE). CAMB has core expertise in polymer synthesis and
structure-property activity studies. The polymer synthesis involves various
synthetic chemical methods such as living cationic polymerization, ring opening
metathesis, ATRP, glycochemistry, RAFT, NCA, block
copolymer chemistry and physics, etc.
Responsibilities
The
candidate will work with PhD students as well as research staff to achieve the
project goals
Will
develop and execute experiments aimed at the synthesis, self-assembly and
modification of novel antimicrobial block copolymers, polysaccharides and
polypeptides.
Prepare
technical reports for the program PIs and present data at regular group
meetings
Draft
research publications
Assist
with organization and management of the research team
Requirements
PhD
in organic chemistry, polymer chemistry, or peptide chemistry.
Expertise
in polymer and polypeptide synthesis methods such as living polymerization, glycochemistry, NCA, ATRP, RAFT, NCA, ring-opening, etc.
Capacity
to develop and interpret polymer structure-assembly relationship, antimicrobial
activity and polymer self-assembly behavior.
Expertise
in developing and interpreting experiments for design and synthesis of novel
antimicrobial block polymers/peptides.
Strong
track record of publication in related disciplines
Ability
to work in a multidisciplinary team
Good
interpersonal and communication skills, oral and written, as well as
organizational
Remuneration & Enviroment
Highly
competitive remuneration and strong research environment with collaborations
with top scientists (from MIT, UCSB, U. Washington, etc).
Contact:
Professor Mary Chan, Director for Centre
for Antimicrobial Bioengineering
mbechan@ntu.edu.sg
Professor Mary Chan-Park
Dr
Chan is presently a professor at the School of Chemical and Biomedical
Engineering at the Nanyang Technological University
Singapore (NTU Singapore). Dr Chan-Park’s main research interests are in
polymers in nanoscience and biotechnology. She has
published extensively, with more than 180 papers in top-tier journals such as
Nature Materials, Advanced Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, JACS,
Small, Biomaterials, etc. Her group has recently developed a novel class
of highly effective broad spectrum antimicrobial coatings which are non-toxic
and biocompatible. The findings have recently been published in Nature
Materials (2011) and Advanced Materials (2012) and her patents have been
used/licensed to companies.
She
has recently been elected to being a Fellow of the America Institute of Medical
and Biological Engineering.
She
obtained her BEng (Chem) and PhD (polymers) from the
National University of Singapore and MIT in 1986 and 1993 respectively.
Procedure
Please contact Professor Mary Chan-Park directly: Email: mbechan@ntu.edu.sg Website: http://www3.ntu.edu.sg/home/mbechan/