Research Fellowship (BI) (Reference REQUIMTE 2026-65)

REQUIMTE - Rede de Quimica e Tecnologia; Portugal; On-site; EUR 14,000 - 17,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Social Security reimbursement

Work insurance

Job summary

REQUIMTE – Rede de Química e Tecnologia in Porto invites applications for a BI Research Fellowship on the BiodivNBS project, focusing on computational chemistry and peptide ligand screening for GPCRs. The fellow will contribute to virtual screening, docking studies, and dynamics simulations under a multidisciplinary team.

The position is based at the Department of Chemistry, University of Porto, starting 16 December 2026, for 12 months (renewable up to 15.5 months) and a monthly stipend of

Qualifications

• Master's degree in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Bioinformatics, or related fields.
• Experience in molecular docking, virtual screening, protein modeling, and classical molecular dynamics simulations.

Responsibilities

• Perform virtual screening of peptide ligand databases for GPCR proteins.
• Conduct molecular dynamics simulations of peptide–receptor binding.
• Rationalize molecular basis for affinity and agonism vs antagonism.
• All work is computational and project-focused.

Skills

Molecular docking

Virtual screening

Protein modeling

Molecular dynamics simulations

Education

Master's degree in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Bioinformatics, or related fields

Job description

Organisation/Company REQUIMTE - Rede de Quimica e Tecnologia Research Field Chemistry » Computational chemistry Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions Master Positions Application Deadline 11 Nov 2026 - 23:59 (Europe/Lisbon) Country Portugal Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

A Research Fellowship (BI) (Reference REQUIMTE 2026-65) on the project BiodivNBS/0009/2023, supported by national funds by FCT / MCTES, is available at REQUIMTE.

Main research field

Computational Chemistry

Admission requirements

Master's degree in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Bioinformatics, or related fields, and enrollment in a doctoral program or enrollment/attendance of a non-degree course taught by a higher education institution in conjunction with an R&D unit in Chemistry, Biochemistry, or related fields. Experience in molecular docking, virtual screening, protein modeling, andclassical molecular dynamics simulations.

In case the Master degree was awarded by a foreign higher education institution, it must comply with the provisions of Decree-Law no. 66/2018 of 16th August, and all formalities established therein must be complied with at the signature of Fellowship contract.

Workplan

The research project aims to perform virtual screening of peptide ligand databases for GPCR proteins, focusing on peptides derived from animal venoms, using both physics-based and AI-based methods. To perform molecular dynamics simulations of peptide-receptor binding and to rationalize the molecular basis for affinity and agonism vs. antagonism. All the work will be computational.

Workplace

The work will be conducted at the Department of Chemistry of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto, Portugal, under the supervision of Prof. Pedro Alexandrino Fernandes.

Duration

The fellowship will have a duration of 12 months, potentially renewable for up to 15,5 months, but cannot exceed the project end date (14/02/2028). The fellowship will start on the 16th of December of 2026.

Monthly stipend

Monthly stipend is €1.359,64 according to the stipend values established by FCT, I.P. in Portugal ( https://www.fct.pt/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Tabela-de-Valores-SMM-202… ). Payment will be made by bank transfer on a monthly basis. The successful candidate will also be entitled to the reimbursement of Social Security payments (Seguro Social Voluntário) and work insurance.

Selection criteria

The selection method will be a curricular evaluation. If there are candidates with scores within 10% of the top candidate’s score, the jury will interview the top-ranked candidate and all candidates within this range. In this case, the interview will weigh 30% of the final global score.

The curricular evaluation corresponds to the average classification of the following five criteria:

• Undergraduate degree average (weighted 3/5) and master’s degree average (weighted 2/5)– (0–20 points).
• Experience in molecular dynamics simulations of biological systems– (0–20 points).
• Experience in virtual screening of peptide libraries for GPCRs– (0–20 points).
• Experience in studies of animal venom toxins– (0–20 points).

The jury will not award the current scholarship to candidates with a final classification lower than 15 points.

Publicity and communication of results

The ranking of applications will be published at a visible and public area of REQUIMTE facilities, and all candidates will be informed by email about the result of their application.