We wish to hire an Interim Director to lead the development of the first Interdisciplinary Summer Program in Research and Entrepreneurship (INSPIRE) Boot Camp. The INSPIRE Boot Camp will be a 6-week immersive, interdisciplinary training program targeting visiting senior undergraduate students and incoming graduate students in Physics, Chemistry, Cell and Systems Biology, Biochemistry, Pharmacy, and Pharmacology. The courses are intended to expose students to key interdisciplinary skills they may not have been formally exposed to in their undergraduate specializations. It will be hosted by the newly established Center for Medicinal Chemistry (CMC) at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) campus in the summer of 2022.
The inaugural theme for the INSPIRE Boot Camp will be GPCR Pharmacology. Students will take a series of 4-intensive, hands-on research modules as well as 2 additional modules in Innovation and Drug Development. The research based short-courses will include: 1) Computational Methods, 2) Cellular Methods, 3) Protein Expression and 4) Biophysical Methods. Two additional courses, one on innovation and entrepreneurship and a primer on drug development will be created separately through IMI and the CMC.
The Interim Director will work closely with two faculty leading this initiative [Dr. Scott Prosser (Chemistry, UofT) and Dr. Joshua Milstein (Physics, UofT)] as well as a team of 5 graduate students, who will be developing the various short courses related to the program. This person’s responsibilities will largely focus on managing the team of graduate students, coordinating the development of the short courses, and synergizing them with the theme of GPCR pharmacology. They will be expected to spend significant time at the bench testing all protocols as well as clarifying the pedagogic write-up of each. They will also be expected to regularly update and interact with the faculty leads.
Requirements for this position are a PhD in Biophysics, Physical Biology, Biophysical Chemistry, Bioengineering, or any Life Science Degree with a strong emphasis on Quantitative/Physical Biology. Applicants must have extensive lab experience in eukaryotic cell culturing, cloning, protein purification, recombinant DNA work, imaging, and biophysical characterization, as well as experience, preferably, in bioimage analysis, bioinformatics, or other computational methods. This will be a full-time, position (40 hrs/week) for a period of 5 months with a salary of $48,000/yr.
To apply: please send a cover letter, CV and contact information for 3 references to Dr. Josh Milstein josh.milstein@utoronto.ca by July 5, 2021.