Biological Curator - Chemical Biology Resources

embl; Hinxton; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 54,000; Full time

Job summary

EMBL-EBI’s Chemical Biology Resources Team is seeking a Scientist to curate bioactivity data for ChEMBL, ensuring high quality data and accurate mapping to biological entities. You will collaborate across EMBL-EBI and external partners to enhance data integration.

The role requires a PhD in biology or biomedicine, deep pharmacology knowledge, and experience with data curation and literature-based data extraction. 3-year contract, renewal to 9 years, on-site at Wellcome Genome Campus.

Qualifications

• PhD in biology/biomedical science is required or equivalent.
• Excellent knowledge of pharmacology and drug action mechanisms.
• Experience with biological data curation and bioinformatics concepts.
• Ability to work accurately and to deadlines; strong communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Curate bioactivity data in the ChEMBL database to ensure high quality data.
• Map measured bioactivity data from literature to biological entities using ontologies.
• Collaborate with EMBL-EBI teams to integrate ChEMBL data across resources.
• Identify new data types and annotations to serve the community.
• Identify potential therapeutic targets of drug molecules from diverse sources.
• Work with data depositors to format and curate data to ChEMBL standards.
• Manually verify data against original sources and assist in training and user support.
• Develop semi-automated processes to identify and correct erroneous data.
• Publish project outcomes in peer‑reviewed literature.

Skills

Attention to detail

Communication skills

Teamwork

Deadline oriented

Education

PhD (or equivalent) in a biological or biomedical science

Job description

About the Team

The Chemical Biology Resources Team at the European Bioinformatics Institute ( EMBL-EBI ) is looking for a talented Scientist with a flair for data curation to be responsible for the quality of bioactivity and drug discovery data in the ChEMBL database .

ChEMBL is a world-leading chemogenomics resource, providing open bioactivity data and associated tools to the scientific community. ChEMBL is widely used through both academia and industry to support drug discovery. You will work in a team-oriented environment, collaborating closely with fellow scientists and technical experts, chemo- and bio-informaticians and software engineers across EMBL-EBI and with our many external partners from the UK and internationally.

Your role

• work together with the other members of the ChEMBL data team to curate bioactivity data in the ChEMBL database ensuring the delivery of high quality data
• map measured bioactivity data from the scientific literature to other biological entities (proteins, cell-lines etc) using a variety of bioinformatics resources and ontologies
• work collaboratively with other EMBL-EBI teams to integrate ChEMBL data into their resources and vice versa
• proactively identify new data types and additional annotations that address the needs of the community
• identify and validate the potential therapeutic targets of drug molecules and compounds in clinical development from a variety of sources
• work with data depositors to help them format and curate their data to the standards required for deposition into ChEMBL
• manually check and annotate data by reference to the original data sources such as the scientific literature, Pharma Company pipelines and prescribing information
• develop semi-automated processes for identifying and correcting erroneous data
• be actively involved in training and external user support
• work with other team members to publish project outcomes in scientific articles in the peer-reviewed literature

You have

You will have excellent attention to details, strong communication skills and be able to interact with technical experts as well as scientists seeking solutions to their 'real world' problems.

• A PhD (or equivalent) in a biological or biomedical science
• Excellent knowledge of pharmacology, potential biological targets and mechanisms of drug action
• Good knowledge of the various experimental techniques used to determine the activity of compounds in different in vitro and in vivo assay systems
• Ability to work accurately and quickly to deadlines
• Able to work both as part of a team and independently
• Good communication skills (both verbal and presentational)

You might also have

• Prior experience of biological data curation and knowledge of bioinformatics databases
• Some knowledge of biological ontologies
• Experience of working in a drug discovery environment
• Experience of working with and manipulating file formats such as FASTA, Excel, XML, OBO and familiarity with regular expressions and text matching
• Experience of querying relational databases using SQL would also be advantageous

Behaviours

• Open mindset - welcoming diverse ideas and perspectives.
• Professional outlook - ensuring meticulous attention to quality and detail.
• Teamwork - working together for shared success.
• Respect - treating all colleagues with professionalism and kindness
• Inclusivity - allowing everyone space to shine in their own way.

Contract length

3 years, renewable to a maximum of 9 years

Salary

Grade 5, salary from £3,452.02 after tax, plus generous financial benefits and allowances based on family circumstances. Excluding personal pension and insurance contributions.

Why join us

Do something meaningful At EMBL-EBI you can apply your talent and passion to accelerate science and tackle some of humankind's greatest challenges. EMBL-EBI, part of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, is a worldwide leader in the storage, analysis and dissemination of large biological datasets. We provide the global research community with access to publicly available databases and tools which are crucial for the advancement of healthcare, food security, and biodiversity.

Join a culture of innovation

We are located on the Wellcome Genome Campus, alongside other prominent research and biotech organisations, and surrounded by beautiful Cambridgeshire countryside. This is a highly collaborative and inclusive community where our employees enjoy a relaxed atmosphere. We are committed to ensuring our employees feel valued, supported and empowered to reach their professional potential. Watch this video to see how EMBL-EBI makes an impact.

Enjoy lots of benefits

• Financial incentives: Monthly family, child and non-resident allowances, annual salary review, pension scheme, death benefit, long-term care, accident-at-work and u