Postdoctoral Research Scientist – Receptor Structural Biology & Cancer Mechanisms

Postdoctoral Research Scientist – Receptor Structural Biology & Cancer Mechanisms

We invite applications for a Postdoctoral Research Scientist to join a collaborative research programme jointly supervised by Professors Christian Siebold and Simon Leedham at the University of Oxford. The position is funded through our Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Programme, “Developing chemopreventative inhibitors of GREM1 to manipulate the Bone Morphogenetic Protein pathway in inherited polyposis syndromes.”

The Siebold and Leedham groups combine complementary expertise in structural biology, BMP signalling, structure-guided drug discovery, intestinal stem cell biology, and gastrointestinal cancer. The Siebold group investigates the molecular mechanisms of extracellular and membrane protein complexes using X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM, and cryo-electron tomography, while the Leedham group studies how BMP signalling and its antagonist Gremlin regulate intestinal stem cell behaviour, epithelial regeneration, and tumour development. Building on our recent work on BMP regulation by Twisted gastrulation (Malinauskas et al., Nature Communications, 2024), this collaboration integrates structural and functional approaches to advance our understanding of BMP signalling and develop novel therapeutic strategies for gastrointestinal disease.

You will lead a structure-guided fragment screening programme targeting GREM1, working closely with the Centre for Medicines Discovery and Diamond Light Source. Your research will include recombinant protein production and purification, crystallisation, fragment screening, X-ray crystallography and structural data analysis, alongside the identification and validation of promising compounds. You will collaborate with structural biologists, medicinal chemists, cancer biologists and computational researchers, including contributing to AI and machine learning approaches to small-molecule discovery.

It is essential that you hold a PhD/DPhil (or be close to completion) in structural biology, biochemistry, chemistry, or a related discipline. You must have research experience in recombinant protein expression, purification, and preparation of proteins for structural studies. Strong practical experience in protein crystallisation and crystal manipulation (e.g. crystal soaking, freezing, etc) is a must. It is essential that you have experience in macromolecular X-ray crystallography, including diffraction data collection, data processing, structure determination, and refinement.

Applications for this vacancy should be made online and you will need to upload a supporting statement and CV. Your supporting statement must explain how you meet each of the selection criteria for the post using examples of your skills and experience. Please restrict your documentation to your CV and supporting statement only. Any other documents will be requested at a later date.

This position is offered full time on a fixed term contract until 28 February 2029 and is funded by Cancer Research UK. Only applications received before 12 midday on 3 December 2026 will be considered. Please quote 189495 on all correspondence.

Contact Person: Luke Gundry

Vacancy ID: 189495

Contact Phone: Closing Date & Time: 03-Dec-2026 12:00

Pay Scale: RESEARCH GRADE 7

Contact Email: [email protected]

Salary (£): Research Grade 7: £40,178 – £48,700 with a discretionary range to £52,988 p.a. (pro rata). This is inclusive of a pensionable Oxford University Weighting of £1,730 per year (pro rata).