Natural Product Chemist

Bactobio is a London based biotechnology company on a mission to harness the potential in previously unexplored microbes. Our ambition is to culture and screen previously uncultured organisms to help solve some of humanity's greatest challenges, starting with the discovery of new antibiotic compounds to tackle the growing antimicrobial resistance crisis.

Role:

In this role, you will join our compound discovery team to aid in the screening of our microbial libraries
and the identification of novel bioactive metabolites.

Team:

Our compound discovery team consists of analytical chemists and microbiologists who work closely
with bioinformaticians and data scientists to collect the highest quality data for analysis. Together, we
have built a database and bioinformatics pipeline that have informed our experiments to culture over
1,800 previously unexplored microbial species. Our compound discovery team work on characterising
the novel compounds these microbes produce using liquid handling robotics, design of experiment
procedures and fermentation techniques.

Facilities:

Bactobio has over 300 sqm of laboratory space with high-end equipment spanning microbiology
through to analytical chemistry. Within compound discovery, this includes a dedicated analytical
chemistry suite with multiple mass spectrometers, HPLCs and high-throughput plate readers, as well as
an automation suite with bioreactors, a flow cytometer and liquid handling machines.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Optimisation and development of current platforms for active hit identification through to
compound isolation
• Establish protocols for optimizing metabolites extraction and sample preparation
• Improving dereplication processes using LC/MS data
• Investigate specific microbial species for screening bioactive production and optimise media
for enhancing bioproduction

You should have:

• An analytical background with a PhD in chemistry, life sciences or a related field
• Experience in natural product characterisation using HPLC and Mass Spectrometry
• Data-driven mindset and demonstrated ability working with large datasets
• Collaborative drive with an ability to learn and adapt

It would be great if you have:

• Experience in NMR for structural elucidation of small compounds
• Experience in analysing and activating biosynthetic gene clusters
• Experienced microbiology background, for example in culturing, whole genome sequencing, biosynthetic gene cluster analysis.
• Experience working with automation and liquid handling.

Benefits include:

• Competitive starting salary
• 25 days holiday + bank holidays
• Pension plan
• Diverse team of colleagues
• Weekly team activities including board games, sports activities, and socials on Fridays
• Complementary breakfast, fruit, tea, coffee, snacks, drinks,…
• Access to 1000s of training courses through Udemy, with an allowance for both personal development and work-related training
• Opportunity to use your skills to help shape our innovative platform