Protein Modeling & Computational Biology Research Assistant

University of Texas at Austin; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 28,000 - 39,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Retirement contributions

Vacation and sick time

Holidays

Job summary

University of Texas at Austin is seeking a Research Engineering/ Scientist Assistant focused on Computational Biology and Protein Modeling on UT Austin's Oden Institute campus. The role supports computational projects in protein structure, interactions, and drug discovery with interdisciplinary collaboration.

The position emphasizes docking, structure prediction, data analysis, and coordination with experimental partners.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in a relevant or related field.
• Strong background in biochemistry, molecular biology, structural biology, biophysics, or a related discipline.
• Understanding of protein structure and function: amino acid properties, folding, domains, interactions, and molecular recognition.
• Experience using PyMOL, ChimeraX, or similar molecular visualization software.
• Familiarity with biological and structural databases.
• Ability to analyze scientific literature and connect computational predictions with biological mechanisms.
• Basic scripting or programming experience, preferably in Python.
• Comfort working in Linux environments and running computational tools from the command line.
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple computational experiments and datasets.
• Careful attention to structural quality, data interpretation, and reproducibility.

Responsibilities

• Apply protein docking and structure-prediction methods to biological systems.
• Prepare protein, peptide, antibody, and small-molecule structures for computational experiments.
• Run, organize, and analyze large-scale computational studies.
• Compare predictions from different docking and structure-prediction tools.
• Evaluate protein interfaces, binding modes, and structural quality.
• Work with databases like PDB, UniProt, Pfam, InterPro and related resources.
• Use PyMOL, ChimeraX, BLAST, Foldseek and modeling/docking software.
• Design computational experiments with controls, benchmarks, and metrics.
• Interpret results in light of experimental data.
• Prepare figures, visualizations, reports, and presentations.
• Collaborate with ML researchers to identify model limitations and guide development.

Skills

Biochemistry

Molecular biology

Biophysics

Python

Linux

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Tools

PyMOL

ChimeraX

BLAST

Foldseek

Job description

University of Texas at Austin is seeking a Research Engineering/ Scientist Assistant focused on Computational Biology and Protein Modeling on UT Austin's Oden Institute campus. The role supports computational projects in protein structure, interactions, and drug discovery with interdisciplinary collaboration.

The position emphasizes docking, structure prediction, data analysis, and coordination with experimental partners.