European Crystallographic Association

Post doc Position available at the University of Rouen (Normandy)
Laboratory SMS EA3233 'Crystal Growth Unit'

Head: Professor Gerard Coquerel

Qualification required: PhD in crystallization of organic materials. Knowledge in solid state characterization and chirality appreciated.

Subjects:

Crystallization of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) difficult to crystallize
Access to nano particles of API
Stabilization of amorphous API with acceptable excipients
Detection of full chiral discrimination in the solid state (i.e. screening of conglomerate)
Assessment of key parameters in polymorph inter-conversion kinetics.

Starting date: ASAP starting on March 2010.

Salary: 2200 € /month (free of charges including welfare payments)

Contact: CV plus motivation letter to

Ph.D. studentship in Crystallography at the Laboratory of Crystallography University of Geneva, Switzerland

The Laboratory of Crystallography at the University of Geneva has an open Swiss National Science Foundation funded Ph.D. position for the research on new metal borohydrides for hydrogen storage and superionic conductor applications.

The work includes the synthesis of borohydrides by ball-milling and ab-initio structural characterization by X-ray and neutron powder diffraction. The diffraction data will be collected at the modern synchrotron and neutron sources like ESRF Grenoble and PSI Villigen. The structural characterization will use modern methods and software like Fox, Topas and Pair Distribution Function analysis.

The position is available from May 2010 or later according to an agreement. The successful applicant should have a degree equivalent to an university diploma. A good background in general crystallography and solid state chemistry/physics would be an advantage.

To apply, please contact:
Radovan Cerny
Laboratory of Crystallography, University of Geneva
24, quai Ernest-Ansermet, CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
Phone: +41 22 379 6450, Fax : +41 22 379 6108 e-mail:
URL: www.unige.ch/sciences/crystal/cerny/rcerny.htm

Associate Scientific Manager/ Scientific Manager -Discovery Analytical Sciences

Syngene International Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Biocon, has established a new research facility in Bangalore in collaboration with global Pharma major Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). We are looking for expertise in the following areas to be part of integrated drug discovery and development teams in several therapeutic areas.

If you are interested, please send your resume and cover letter to: You can also visit our website: www.syngeneintl.com.

Job Title: Associate Scientific Manager/ Scientific Manager -Discovery Analytical Sciences (Code: CDA032)

Job Location: Bangalore, India

Qualification: PhD/ PDF in chemistry or engineering with 2-5 years of relevant Industry experience.

Role:

The successful candidate will work in a state of the art Solid State Chemistry laboratory designed for X-ray single crystal structure determination, powder X-ray diffraction and solid-state characterization of drug bulks.
As a member of a highly effective team, the candidate will provide crystallography/solid-state chemistry collaboration in support of drug discovery and preclinical compound optimization, as well as pharmaceutical development.
The candidate's major responsibilities include: 1. Growing single crystals and performing structure determination of discovery lead compounds and intermediates; 2. Conducting powder characterization experiments in support of crystallization efforts and API powder/formulation studies; 3. Providing routine maintenance of the lab hardware and update of the application software; 4. Independent planning and execution of R&D projects, effective oral communication, timely written documentation, and data base entry of results.
The candidate will also have the opportunity to develop cross site interactions with process chemists and pharmaceutical scientists and participate in the final form selection, salt and polymorph screening of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API).

Skill set: The candidate should have hands-on experience with chemical crystallography, including X-ray diffraction data collection/processing/analysis and structure solution/refinement. Strong experience in crystallization of organic/inorganic materials and preparation of crystalline salts is also required. A working knowledge of physical characterization techniques (e.g. thermal analysis, microscopy, sorption analysis) for chemical/pharmaceutical bulk solids is a plus.

Independence and creativity, strong organizational and written/verbal communication skills as well as a demonstrated ability to work within an interdisciplinary research team are essential.

Opening for a position of Experienced Researcher (4-10 years) in production, crystallisation and X-ray crystallography of biological macromolecules

TOPIC: TOPCRYST, an academia-industry project, will use Dual Polarimetric Interferometry, pioneered by Farfield Scientific Ltd., to probe crystallisation at its earliest, most crucial stages. Transfer of knowledge between academia and industry will tackle the problem of detecting crystal nucleation phenomena at the very earliest stages of crystallisation and holds a number of promises that will be investigated in its course: (i) to guide the choice of crystallisation conditions starting from a limited number of preliminary experiments; (ii) to allow to unequivocally distinguish crystalline from amorphous material; (iii) to allow optimisation of conditions under real-time control; (iv) to provide an experimental underpinning to the theoretical understanding of nucleation phenomena (v) to develop novel instrumentation for crystallisation of macromolecules.

The post doctoral, experienced researcher (4-10 years after the bachelor's degree) will be mainly occupied with production and/or crystallisation of macromolecules (by the method to be developed and conventional methods), as well as with determination of their molecular structures according to the needs.

TYPE OF APPOINTMENT-DURATION-STARTING DATE: Full-time contract - 24 months - Salary, that of an experienced researcher according to the Marie Curie projects guidelines: Any time up to March 1st 2010.

PROFILE-ELIGIBILITY Applicants should have a PhD degree, experience in production, crystallisation of proteins and X-ray crystallography and 4-10 years research experience at the time of hiring. They can be nationals of any country other than the country of the host organisation (Greece), preferably citizens of EU Member States or Associated Countries, as long as they have not resided or carried out their main activity in Greece for more than 12 months in the last 3 years. Candidates from countries outside EU are also eligible. Greek citizens who have resided in third countries for at least 3 years in the 4 years prior to this hiring date are also eligible.

HOW TO APPLY Applicants should forward electronically (a) their detailed CV (b) copies of published articles, (c) names, e-mails/phone numbers of two referees to: or , Institute of Physical Chemistry National Center for Scientific Research Demokritos Aghia Paraskevi 15310, Athens, Greece

DEADLINE: Applications will be accepted until November 30th, 2009.

Postdoctoral Fellow Position in Computational Structural Biology at the Zhang Initiative Research Unit, Advanced Science Institute, RIKEN, Japan

We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced computational structural biologist to join the Zhang Initiative Research Unit at RIKEN. The successful candidate will use computational tools to tackle problems in the area of protein folding, structure prediction, crystallographic phasing or drug design.

Qualifications: This position requires a PhD in biophysics, biochemistry, chemistry, bioinformatics or structural biology with experience in employing computational tools to solve biological or chemical problems. Experience in protein folding, protein structure prediction, protein structure analysis, protein crystallography or structure-based drug design are highly desired. Proficiency in object-oriented programming and scripting languages are also required. Experience in high performance computing, network computing or grid computing would be a plus. The ideal candidate should possess a track record of accomplishments demonstrating technical proficiency, independent thinking, and scientific creativity. The research environment in the unit is international and hence the ability to communicate in English is required.

Salary and benefits: This is a full-time position with an annual renewable contract. Salary will be commensurate with qualification and experience. Commuting and housing allowance will be provided.

Application and required documents: Complete CV (including list of publications) and names and contact information of three references.

Contact information:
Kam Zhang, Ph.D.
Zhang Initiative Research Unit
Advanced Science Institute
RIKEN (The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research)
2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
E-mail:

Full Professor of Mineralogy and Crystallography, Wien

The Faculty of Earth Sciences, Geography and Astronomy of the University of Vienna announces the position of a Full Professor of Mineralogy and Crystallography As stated in its development plan the University of Vienna aims at strengthening its position as a major research-oriented university. Key elements of this strategy include the provision of an attractive range of research-based study programmes, support for furthering the work of junior academic colleagues, and high-calibre professorial appointments. The Faculty of Earth Sciences, Geography and Astronomy of the University of Vienna announces the position of a

Full Professor of Mineralogy and Crystallography

(full-time, permanent position under private law). The University of Vienna intends to increase the number of women on its faculty, particularly in high-level positions, and therefore specifically invites applications by women. Among equally qualified applicants women will receive preferential consideration.

Applicants should provide outstanding research leadership in the areas of mineralogy, mineralogical crystallography, crystal chemistry, and crystal structure research. The successful candidate is expected to cooperate closely with other earth science as well as physically or chemically orientated chairs of the Faculty and University, especially with the professorship in Mineralogy and Spectroscopy.

Successful candidates will have the following qualifications

PhD and post-doctoral experience at a university or other research institution (Austrian or equivalent international academic degree in the relevant field)
Outstanding research and publication record, with an excellent reputation as an active member in the international academic community (Habilitation (venia docendi) or equivalent international qualification in the relevant field is desirable)
Experience in designing, procuring and directing major research projects, and willingness and ability to assume the responsibility of team leadership
Experience in university teaching, and willingness and ability to teach at all curricular levels, to supervise theses, and to further the work of junior academic colleagues

The University of Vienna expects the successful candidate to acquire, within three years, proficiency in German sufficient for teaching in Bachelor programmes and participation in committees

The University of Vienna offers

Attractive terms and conditions of employment with a negotiable and performance-related salary, associated with a retirement fund

A "start-up package" for the initiation of research projects
An attractive and dynamic research location in a city with a high quality of life and in a country with excellent research funding provision
Support for relocation to Vienna, where appropriate

Candidates should send an application containing at least the following documents

Academic curriculum vitae
Brief description of current research interests and research plans for the immediate future
List of publications together with
- a) specification of five key publications judged by the applicant to be particularly relevant to the advertised professorship together with an explanation of their relevance
- b) PDF versions of these five publications provided either as email attachments or through URLs of downloadable copies (PDF versions of monographs need only be provided if easily available.)
List of talks given, including detailed information about invited plenaries at international conferences
List of projects supported by third-party funds
Short survey of previous academic teaching and list of supervised PhD theses

Applications in English should be submitted by email (preferably as PDF attachments) to the Dean's office of the Faculty of Earth Sciences, Geography and Astronomy of the University of Vienna, , Althanstraße 14, A- 1090 Wien, no later than June 12th, 2009 with reference 5/I/1-09.

Research Scientist position in Material Science
Université Henri Poincaré, Nancy, France

The CRM2 laboratory is developing methods and instruments for accurate structural characterisation of molecular, bio- and hybrid materials within the Institut Jean Barriol, Nancy, France. It participates to the CNRS Research Group "Magnetism and Molecular Switching" and the European Network of Excellence MAGMANet. It is financially supported by the French ministry of research for a "National High Resolution Crystallography and Photo-crystallography Network".

The CRM2 develops new x-ray diffraction methods and instruments applied to single crystal, powder and nanocrystals under continuous and pulsed laser excitation, at cryogenic temperature and/or electric field. As such, it is considered as a European platform for high resolution crystallography and photo-crystallography.

Duties:
Successful candidate will be the local contact for foreign scientists on the diffraction platform and will be in charge of the development and maintaining of all the crystallographic instruments under extreme conditions (T, E, hv).

Qualifications and experience:
Successful candidate will have a Ph. D. and specific skills in instrumentation and x-ray diffraction techniques. Previous experience with synchrotron or neutron large facilities will be an asset. Knowledge in x-ray diffraction, laser optics, cryogenic systems, electronics and/or computing will be appreciated.

For further information on this position, please contact Claude Lecomte ( )

Openings for Postdoctoral collaborator and Ph.D. student:

Software development for a scienfitic supercomputing application: interpreting diffuse scattering from disordered materials

Summary of Research Plan. Develop structure elucidation at the nano- to micrometer length scales for materials, which owe whatever interesting properties they have to a lack of structural order. The plan is to build efficient and conceptually revolutionized software for interpreting diffuse neutron and X-ray scattering data with the help of supercomputing facilities.

Objectives and methods. The objective of this project is to transform current heuristic approaches to analyzing the total, three-dimensional diffraction pattern of solid-state materials into a unified, efficient and conceptually revolutionized computational method that capitalizes on (a) new technologies in large-scale computing, (b) a new crystallographic description of disordered crystal structures, (c) progress in modeling molecular and other materials, and (d) advances in synchrotron and neutron physics. We will design efficient computer programs and associated analysis protocols adapted to the world-class high-performance computing facility of the National Center for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the grid computing facility associated with the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the University of Zürich (UZH).

The project is a multi-disciplinary and international team effort between the University of Zürich, ETH Zürich and ORNL. It has been motivated by the single-crystal diffraction facility TOPAZ being built at the Spallation Neutron Source at ORNL and by the planned upgrades of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France.

Openings are available for a postdoctoral collaborator and a Ph.D. student (workplace ORNL or UZH) with a background/interest in software development/solid state physics. The positions are part of a Sinergia project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation for 3 years. More information from and job applications with 2 letters of recommendation to:
Professor Kim Baldridge ( ),
+41 (0)44 635 4201
http://www.oci.uzh.ch
Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Zurich
Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland.

Open position: assistant professor ("Maître de Conférences") on molecular materials and nanomaterials

The Molecular Material team of CRM2, UMR 7036 (LCM3B), is recognized for its pioneering research in crystallography of photo switchable molecular materials (see for example the invited review Z. Krist. 2008, 223, 235-249, special issue).

One of the research activities is to focuss on crystalline and/or nanocriytalline magnetic molecular materials thermo or photo excitable to produce optical storage materials.

The "Maître de Conférences" (Assistan Professor), physicist or physico-chemist with a large crystallographic background, will be in charge of elaboration, magnetic, optic and structural characterizations of these nano or film molecular magnetic materials.

Experience with synchrotron and neutron facilities is welcome

Teaching:

Basic physics and physical chemistry, L1 - L2
Material sciences, M1 - M2
Crystallography, M1 - M2

IMPORTANT. In order to candidate on this position, it is necessary to have a national qualification given by the French ministry of higher education and research. Applications for qualifications are done online, via the following website: http://www.education.gouv.fr/personnel/enseignant_superieur/enseignant_chercheur/antares.htm

Applications will open on September 9, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. and close on October 14, 2008, 17:00 (Paris time).

For more informations please to not hesitate to contact the director of the laboratory, Prof Claude Lecomte, , phone 33 (0)383 684865 or 63, 33 (0)670 015658.

Wages ("brut", i.e. before deduction for social contributions) for professors in France: http://www.education.gouv.fr/cid1056/maitre-de-conference.html

Exciting PhD Programme in Structural Biology

The Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IChB PAN) in Poznan, in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (MPIZ) in Cologne, announce the opening of an International PhD Programme in "Structural biology of plants and microbes". The research projects will focus on the application of protein engineering and protein crystallography to the study of structural aspects of plant biology and of host-microbe interactions. The programme is supported by the Foundation for Polish Science through structural funds of the European Union. The monthly fellowship is 3000 PLN.

Successful applicants will be enrolled in a four-year programme, expected to conclude with the presentation and public defence of a PhD thesis, for obtaining a doctoral degree in chemistry or biochemistry from the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences. The programme is open to all candidates who have a university MSc degree (or equivalent) in chemistry, biology, or a related field. Candidate selection will be conducted according to the regulations for the Graduate School of IChB PAN and will include an oral examination in chemistry or biochemistry. The entire programme is in English.

The application deadline is July 18, 2009. Successful candidates are expected to start the programme on September 1, 2009. For more information about the application procedure, please visit www.man.poznan.pl/CBB/MPD or contact Dr. Anna Urbanowicz ( ; Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Noskowskiego 12/14, 61-704 Poznan, Poland).

The Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, is an equal opportunity employer and encourages applications from disabled persons.

Open position: associate professor of crystallography, Nancy 2009

The crystallography laboratory in Nancy is renown for its leading experimental works on accurate structures and electron density of all type of materials, from minerals to biological macromolecules, crystallography under constraints (temperature, photo-excitation, external electric field). It is equipped with three single crystal diffractometers and one powder diffractometer, operating from liquid He to 1000K, laser source and electric field. It is involved in the development of the CRISTAL beamline of the SOLEIL Synchrotron.

A permanent position of associate professor of crystallography will be available in 2009 for an experimentalist working on X-ray diffraction and X-ray spectroscopies. The associate professor will have to teach in French, mainly at the physics and physical chemistry departments. Foreign candidates are most welcome, provided they have or acquire a sufficient command of the French language.

Applications will open on September 11, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. and close on October 16, 2008, 17:00 (Paris time).