Company Description

UHN is Canada’s #1 hospital and the world’s #1 publicly funded hospital. With 10 sites and more than 44,000 TeamUHN members, UHN consists of Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, The Michener Institute of Education and West Park Healthcare Centre. As Canada's top research hospital, the scope of biomedical research and complexity of cases at UHN have made it a national and international source for discovery, education and patient care. UHN has the largest hospital-based research program in Canada, with major research in neurosciences, cardiology, transplantation, oncology, surgical innovation, infectious diseases, genomic medicine and rehabilitation medicine. UHN is a research hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto.

UHN’s vision is to build A Healthier World and it’s only because of the talented and dedicated people who work here that we are continually bringing that vision closer to reality.

www.uhn.ca

Job Description

Union: Non-Union

Number of vacancies: 2

New or Replacement Position: New

Site: Princess Margaret Research, MaRS Centre

Department: Research

Reports to: Principal Investigator

Salary Range: $38.70 - $48.37 per hour

Hours: 37.5 hours per week

Shifts: Monday-Friday

Status: Temporary Full-time (1 year contract; possibility of renewal)

Closing Date: November 16, 2026

Position Summary

The Scientific Associate I, Assay Development and Biophysics, will contribute to an innovative, data-driven drug discovery programme supporting Target 2035, a global initiative to develop high-quality chemical tools for every protein in the human proteome.



Reporting to the Principal Investigator, the successful candidate will perform biochemical and biophysical assays to validate protein–ligand interactions, analyse experimental results, and ensure high-quality data reporting to internal databases and external repositories. A particular focus of the role will be the development and application of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assays to support hit validation, mechanism-of-action studies and chemical probe discovery.

This role also involves supporting assay development, training laboratory members, contributing to manuscripts and scientific reports, and collaborating across multidisciplinary teams to advance multiple open science drug discovery programmes. We work closely with academic institutions, pharmaceutical companies, technology developers and non-profit organisations to create innovative technologies, chemical tools and openly accessible datasets that make biomedical research faster, more collaborative and more impactful.

As part of the Centre for Collaborative Drug Discovery (C2D2) and the international Target 2035 community, our open science, milestone-driven research seeks to revolutionise and democratise drug discovery by generating high-quality reagents,



data and technologies that enable the study of previously understudied proteins and accelerate the development of new medicines.

What We Offer

- Opportunity to lead biophysical studies on cutting-edge drug discovery programmes.
- Access to state-of-the-art instrumentation, including Cytiva Biacore 8K and a fully equipped biophysics suite.
- An open, collaborative research environment with solid international academic and industry partnerships.
- Opportunities for scientific leadership, publication and career development.
- The chance to contribute to open science initiatives that accelerate therapeutic discovery worldwide.

Duties

- Design, perform and analyse protein-ligand binding experiments using Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) as the primary biophysical platform.
- Develop and optimise SPR assays for hit validation, affinity determination, kinetic characterisation and mechanistic studies.
- Apply complementary biophysical techniques including DSF, MST, ITC, fluorescence polarisation, BLI and mass spectrometry where appropriate.
- Contribute to screening campaigns supporting chemical probe and early drug discovery projects.
- Analyse experimental data and communicate findings to multidisciplinary project teams.
- Maintain accurate experimental records using electronic laboratory notebooks and internal databases.
- Assist with development of standard operating procedures and best practices for biophysical assays.
- Contribute to scientific manuscripts, grant applications and conference presentations.
- Help maintain shared instrumentation and laboratory equipment.
- Support and train students and new laboratory members in biophysical techniques as experience develops.

Qualific

📌 Scientific Associate I (Toronto)
🏢 University Health Network
📍 Toronto