Chemistry Research Assistant

**Description**:
**Title**: Chemistry Research Assistant

**Type**: Casual, Part-Time

**Location**: Sydney, Australia

**Reports to**: Lead Medicinal Chemist and CSO

Psylo is a biotech company developing medications inspired by psychedelics found in nature. Our goal is to produce next-generation neuropsychiatric therapeutics which are accessible to a broader patient population. See more about us here:
**Why It’s Great to Work Here**

We work at Psylo because mental illness affects us all in some way, our current approaches are not good enough, and psychedelics provide a novel framework for developing new solutions. We are driven by a desire to effect positive change in the world; to leave the world a little better than we found it— campsite rules.

In addition to our deep sense of purpose, we love working here because:

- We are an innovative, collaborative, young company: we believe in partnerships, collaboration, and honesty so that we act fast, efficiently, and smart.
- Flexibility of hours: While we do have core hours for teamwork, we are a group of school picker uppers, night lab rats, cross-time-zone collaborators, morning swimmers, and lunchtime gym nuts.
- Flexibility of location: While we do have a lab and office and do like face to face interaction, we know that it’s sometimes easier to work from home / cafe / plane / beach house.
- Employee Share Plan: We want all of our employees to be invested in more than just their individual outcomes. All employees can participate in our employee share plan.
- Wonderful office: We work on the beautiful campus of University of New South Wales, which means we have a lot of green space, have a great discounted fitness centre a few buildings away, are on public transportation routes, and have tons of students around to keep us young.

**Our Values**

Head imagery feature prominently in our branding, it also serves as an acronym for our values, which we try to weave into how we operate and interact as a team. These are:

- Honesty (& Hunger): We value transparency, internally and externally, and we're hungry to succeed, and learn - which is how we get so much done
- Empathy: We have a patient-centric mindset, everything we do is for people who are suffering and have limited options for treatment.
- Accountability: We do what we say. We recently established a penalty system where team members late to meetings donate to Black Dog Institute, a mental-health research non-profit. Proceeds from our online store all go the same institute.
- Diversity: We crave delivery of opinion, background, POV. Our team members have Australian, American, Chinese, Fijian, Swiss, Canadian, and Turkish backgrounds. We are dedicated to including as many people as we can, and frequently host community-interest events for the general public to provide an interactive forum for discussion around the science of psychedelic medicine.
- Self-reliance: We value enterprise thinking and proactivity. We work independently, but communicate often.**THE ROLE**

We are seeking an energetic, creative, and data specialist with synthetic chemistry experience to join our medicinal chemistry team to support the design and synthesis of small molecules targeting the 5-HT system.

**RESPONSIBILITIES**
- Translate synthetic chemistry experimental notes and characterisation data into publication-ready language and formats.
- Work with the medicinal chemists in the team to ensure electronic lab notebook records are accurate and current.
- Maintain digital inventory of chemical libraries (synthesised, virtual, and prior art) using drug discovery software.
- Coordinate the purchase, delivery, and shipping of chemical compounds.

**THE IDEAL CANDIDATE**
- MSc/Honours in organic chemistry or medicinal chemistry.
- Exceptional database management skills.
- Excellent communication, organisation, and time management skills.
- Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot and problem solve.
- Capable of working independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team.
- Skills in computational chemistry supporting drug discovery (chemoinformatics, molecular modelling/virtual screening) are a plus.

**Role Type**:

- In-house - Temporary - Part-time - Mid-Senior Level

**Company Overview**:

- Psylo is a biotech company developing medications inspired by psychedelics found in nature. Our goal is to produce next-generation neuropsychiatric therapeutics which are accessible to a broader patient population. Psylo is based at the University of New South Wales, and was named a Top 100 Innovator by The Australian Business Review.