Postdoctoral Fellow: Medicinal Chemistry & Drug Discovery

Wayne State University • Detroit, MI

2d • $55,000 - $63,480 • Onsite

About The Position

Wayne State University is searching for an experienced Postdoctoral Fellow: Medicinal Chemistry & Drug Discovery at its Detroit campus location. Wayne State is a premier, public, urban research university located in the heart of Detroit, Michigan where students from all backgrounds are offered a rich, high-quality education. Our deep-rooted commitment to excellence, collaboration, integrity, diversity and inclusion creates exceptional educational opportunities which prepare students for success in a global society.

What if a single sugar-modifying enzyme held the key to new therapies for cancer, diabetes, and obesity? The Fehl Lab just landed two new NIH grants built around exactly that question, one for chemical tool development and one for treating metabolic disease, and both converge on the same high-value target: O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT). We are hiring a postdoctoral fellow to help take our rationally designed hit compound from bench to preclinical study.

This is a rare chance to lead medicinal chemistry on a validated, high-impact target from hit to lead, with a real path toward translational and even commercial impact via Wayne State’s TechTown startup environment.

We are chemical biologists who build tools to answer big questions in sugar biology, and we care as much about your growth as we do about the science. You will join a supportive, creative, and diverse group culture at Wayne State University, in the heart of Detroit, with direct mentorship from PI Charlie Fehl and a clear runway toward publications, patents, and your next career step. Our trainees have gone straight to industry, to exciting postdocs at other universities and at the NIH, and even a tenure-track faculty position. Our track record of training and publishing is excellent, and we’re looking for excellent people to join us!

Requirements

• PhD in organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, or a related field.
• Hands-on experience synthesizing and evaluating small-molecule inhibitors.
• Interest in (and ideally experience with) chemical method development.
• Curiosity about pharmacokinetics and hit-to-lead optimization.
• Genuine interest in translational science, biotech, or startups.
• Strong communication skills, a collaborative mindset, and a willingness to train junior lab members.

Responsibilities

• Design and synthesize small-molecule OGT inhibitors, building structure-activity relationships (SAR) around our hit compound.
• Advance our lab’s radical/photochemical synthetic methods and use to access new sugar-based chemical probes.
• Evaluate inhibitor potency, selectivity, and mechanism using in vitro and cell-based OGT assays.
• Optimize pharmacokinetic (PK) properties, including solubility, metabolic stability, and permeability, to advance hits toward lead compounds.
• Collaborate with disease biologists to apply your new probes to disease insight.
• Work with our own lab’s trainees to mentor their medicinal chemical skills and maintain a culture of research excellence.
• Contribute to intellectual property strategy and help explore paths to commercialization, including potential involvement in a spinout biotech company.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree