Postdoctoral Researcher

Company Description

UHN is Canada’s #1 hospital and the world’s #1 publicly funded hospital. With 10 sites and more than 44,000 TeamUHN members, UHN consists of Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, The Michener Institute of Education, and West Park Healthcare Centre. As Canada’s top research hospital, UHN’s biomedical research and complex clinical cases make it a national and international source for discovery, education, and patient care.

UHN has the largest hospital‑based research program in Canada, focusing on neurosciences, cardiology, transplantation, oncology, surgical innovation, infectious diseases, genomic medicine, and rehabilitation medicine. UHN is affiliated with the University of Toronto.

Union: Non‑Union
Number of Vacancies: 2
Position Type: New
Site: Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
Department: Research
Reports to: Senior Scientist
Hours: 37.5 per week
Salary Range: $54,902 – $71,000 annually
Shifts: Monday – Friday
Employment Status: Temporary Full‑time
Closing Date: March 2, 2026

Program:
Mitacs Accelerate Umbrella – Target 2035 Fellows
We are seeking a highly motivated Postdoctoral Researcher with a strong background in medicinal chemistry, synthetic chemistry, and chemical biology to develop small‑molecule chemical probes for novel protein targets involved in cancer, neurological diseases, and other debilitating conditions lacking effective treatments. The successful candidate will apply cutting‑edge machine‑learning models to guide parallel synthesis using an integrated robotic platform and direct‑to‑biology assays for compound evaluation.

Through iterative Design‑Make‑Test cycles and Bayesian optimization of compound structure and activity, the researcher will accelerate the discovery of novel chemical probes to understand human health and disease and seed drug discovery.

• Apply AI/machine‑learning–enabled design strategies to explore structure‑activity relationships of hits and related compounds.
• Synthesize compounds to improve properties of hit compounds using an automated synthesis platform.
• Develop efficient chemistry for optimized automated parallel synthesis.
• Collaborate with UHN and external collaborative centre teams and industry partners to advance hits from screening into validated chemical probes.

This position is part of the Target 2035 Fellows program, supported through a Mitacs Accelerate Umbrella program. It is offered as a full‑time postdoctoral appointment for an initial one‑year term, with the possibility of renewal for up to two additional years, subject to performance, funding availability, and program requirements. The researcher will be embedded within UHN’s research environment and contribute to collaborative research aligned with Target 2035, a global open‑science public‑private partnership focused on accelerating early drug discovery through high‑quality chemical tools and protein–ligand interaction data for artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Training is provided through academic supervision, day‑to‑day integration within UHN’s research teams, and participation in collaborative projects with a global team of academic, technology, and industry partners.

• Ph.D. obtained within the last five years in synthetic organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, or a related field.
• Strong hands‑on experience with synthetic organic chemistry techniques demonstrated by peer‑reviewed publications.
• Excellent communication skills and motivation for collaborative, interdisciplinary research.

• Familiarity with automation, parallel synthesis, drug discovery, or chemical biology.
• Experience with data analysis or scripting (e.g., Python).
• Interest in AI‑enabled or data‑driven medicinal chemistry approaches.

• Competitive compensation package.
• Government‑owned organization with membership in the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP).
• Close access to transit and UHN shuttle service.
• Flexible work environment.
• Opportunities for development and promotion within a large organization.
• Addition…