Director Drug Discovery, Candidate Center CCA

Candidate Center CCA is a new drug discovery lab within Cancer Center Amsterdam (CCA). It aims to identify and develop new drug leads for the treatment of cancer. The goal is to bring these leads to a stage where they can progress into clinical development or be taken further by industry.

The lab covers two complementary screening approaches:

• Target-based drug discovery: biochemical and biophysical assays on validated molecular targets, such as enzyme activity and binding assays (e.g. SPR, TR-FRET or comparable techniques). The aim is to identify and optimize hits with a demonstrable mechanism of action.
• Cell-based drug discovery: phenotypic screening assays, reporter cell lines and high-content imaging in relevant oncology cell models, to capture more complex biological responses and functional effects.

AI-supported drug discovery is a prominent part of this approach, in collaboration with expert groups in this field on campus. Combined with the tumor biology expertise of the research groups within CCA, this allows screens to be focused on the most relevant targets and compounds, and kept limited in scale. Projects are selected together with these groups on the basis of their translational potential.

What the lab will deliver:

• High-quality reporter assays and drugsthat directly enable commercialization or clinical trials
• Projects that lead to patentable composition-of-matter IP, with potential for licensing or spin-out to industry

The position is for 3 years, followed by an evaluation based on the KPI and Go/No-Go framework of the Candidate Center.

This is a new position. As Director Drug Discovery, you will set up and lead Candidate Center CCA, and you will have room to shape the lab yourself. You initiate, coordinate and carry out collaborative screening programs with academic groups across CCA. You are responsible from assay development to hit identification, and you remain involved in hit optimization together with other capacity groups.

Activities include:

• Setting up and expanding a state-of-the-art drug discovery lab within the infrastructure of the Candidate Center and CCA
• Developing, validating and maintaining target-based and cell-based screening systems
• Running screens according to current international standards
• Identifying, together with academic groups, projects with high translational potential for drug discovery
• Contributing to the acquisition of grants and external funding

Within the Translational Management Team, you are ultimately responsible for the funding and execution of the Candidate projects. You will have the opportunity to build Candidate Center CCA into a productive, financially self-sustaining screening center, with its own technical team, that delivers multiple new drug leads. You will work towards this with clear, shared milestones: progress is reviewed annually against the Candidate Center KPIs (external funding, invention disclosures, patent applications, and spin-offs or licenses), with an integral evaluation after three years.

Applicants bring the following:

• a PhD in (bio)medical sciences, (bio)chemistry, pharmacology or a related discipline;
• work experience in a drug discovery or screening environment, for example in industry, biotech or an academic screening facility, and an understanding of the full drug discovery trajectory, including hit optimization;
• broad expertise in assay design and validation for both target-based and cell-based drug discoveryExperience or affinity with AI-supported drug discovery, for example to prioritize compounds and keep screens focused;
• hands-on experience with biochemical/biophysical assays (e.g. SPR, TR-FRET) and with phenotypic screening, reporter cell lines and high-content imaging;
• experience with acquiring grants or external funding.

We are looking for the following personality traits:

• a proactive individual who enjoys building a new lab from the ground up;
• someone who takes ownership of both the science and the finances, and delivers on commitments;
• commercially and industry-aware;
• a strong connector who brings together academic groups, AI experts and management around shared projects.