Principal Investigator & Assistant / Associate Professor

This job posting is for a Principal Investigator Assistant or Associate Professor position in the area of Drug discovery assisted by Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) of Université de Montréal in Montréal, Québec, Canada.

Affiliation:  ​​​​​​Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal

The Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) in partnership with the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine of Université de Montréal (UdeM) invites applications for a Principal Investigator and Assistant or Associate Professor position in the area of Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence applied to the search for new treatments in human health, including mainly small molecules and possibly some aspects of chemical biology such as unnatural biopolymers (amino acids or nucleic acids) or natural products.

In particular, we are looking for an exceptional scientist to lead a research program in machine learning/artificial intelligence applied to drug discovery, which may include, but not limited to: predictions of compound activity, predictions of compound physical/pharmaceutical properties, virtual screening of drug librairies, drug optimization, and design of retrosynthetic schemes. The candidate should be an experienced specialist in developing artificial intelligence algorithms, including for example, deep learning networks, reinforcement learning, diffusion models, massive language models, or any other relevant techniques.

About IRIC

IRIC’s primary goal is to better understand the biological processes that contribute to cancer and identify ground-breaking avenues in the development of effective therapies. IRIC is located in a state-of-the-art building on the main campus of UdeM. It currently hosts 27 Principal Investigators and nearly 450 trainees, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, research associates and support staff. IRIC also comprises several cutting edge core facilities, including Bioimaging, Biophysics & NMR, Flow Cytometry, Genomics, High-Throughput Screening (chemical, RNAi, and CRISPR), Bioinformatics, Histology, Medicinal Chemistry, Proteomics, and In Vivo Biology/Animal facility. Most importantly, IRIC houses one of the largest Drug Discovery Units in an academic setting in Canada. Its activities are led by a team of 65 expert chemists and biologists who have extensive drug discovery experience in an industrial setting. A collegial, dynamic and curiosity-driven research environment is a defining feature of the Institute.

We offer competitive recruitment packages commensurate with experience and qualifications, a research intensive environment, state-of-the art facilities and competitive graduate training programs. The new Principal Investigator will be appointed as a Faculty in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine of UdeM. The selected candidate will be considered for a philanthropic chair in AI applied to life sciences and may be eligible for a Canada Research Chair (https://www.chairs-chaires.gc.ca/). Access to IRIC’s core facilities and extensive expertise of IRIC’s drug discovery unit will provide the candidate with a unique environment to validate the proposed algorithmic approaches. Within its ecosystem, the Université de Montréal is home to the Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms (MILA) and the Institute for Data Valorization (IVADO), contributing to making Montreal a global hub for artificial intelligence.

The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine includes 30 regular professors and more than 60 clinical or adjunct professors. Research teams address fundamental biomedical research questions in close connection with translational and clinical research conducted in the Faculty of medicine network of affiliated hospital research centers and institutes. Through its cutting-edge teaching programs in biochemistry and bioinformatics, the Department supports the training of more than 350 undergraduate students and 200 graduate students. We are particularly interested in attracting colleagues who share our commitment to teaching, mentoring and fostering a collaborative research environment that embraces both excellence and diversity.

For more information, please visit the following web sites:

• IRIC (https://www.iric.ca/en)
• Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (https://biochimie.umontreal.ca/en/)
• Faculty of Medecine (https://medecine.umontreal.ca/medical-school/)
• Université de Montréal (https://www.umontreal.ca/en/)

As a professor, you will have the opportunity to contribute to the promotion of excellence at IRIC and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine…

through your teaching and your research activities you will also ensure the visibility of your discipline in addition to actively participating in the operation of a renowned institution. As such, you will be expected to:

• Emphasise the development of novel, state-of-the-art computing approaches rather than the application of existing tools;
• Collaborate on projects with large multidimensional datasets, so experience in integrating genomics, proteomics, and clinical data sets with drug screening would be an asset;
• Take part in academic-industry collaborations with biopharmaceutical partners;
• Develop an innovative, internationally recognized, financially independent research program;
• Supervise graduate students and postdoctoral fellows;
• Contribute to the teaching mission of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine at the undergraduate, M.Sc. and Ph.D. levels;

To succeed in this role, you will need to:

• Hold a Ph.D. and demonstrate significant postdoctoral experience and productivity in a relevant area;
• Have an outstanding publication record;
• Have the potential to develop both internal and international collaborations;
• Demonstrate an ability to provide high quality university-level education;
• An adequate knowledge of the French language (written and spoken) or a strong commitment to mastering the proficiency level required, in accordance to the Politique linguistique de l’Université de Montréal. An institutional learning support program is offered to all professors wishing to learn French or improve their communications skills.