Position
PhD position under the supervision of Anatole von Lilienfeld (co-supervisor: Michael Nash) at the Department of Chemistry, University of Basel

Project 
Development and application of new machine learning models for the quantitative prediction of biomolecular interactions. Predictions will be validated and assessed using experiments carried out by the Nash lab.

Research 
Chemical compound space is huge and has hardly been explored. Yet it might well hold the key to contribute substantially to our understanding of chemistry as well as to practical solutions for many of modern society's most pressing problems, including energy, water, planetary chemistry, or aging and disease. We develop, implement and apply the computational tools which enable us to investigate, explore, and navigate this space with physics based rigor and to unprecedented extent. For this, we rely on the principles of physical chemistry (as encoded in popular atomistic simulation codes which apply quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, and statistical mechanics to real materials), Machine Learning, and high-performance computing. We have ongoing collaborations with leading Machine Learning (incl. Google Accelerated Science) and quantum chemistry experts. The overall theme of the lab is to develop, implement and apply predictive methods which accelerate the computational design or discovery of new materials, molecules, or biomolecules using quantum mechanics (mostly DFT), Big Data, statistical mechanics, quantitative experimentation, and computing. 

Details
We have recently been awarded a Swiss Nano Institute PhD scholarship, and are now looking to hire an ambitious, driven, skilled and talented individual (aka nerd) who would like to join our efforts. This PhD position is part of the SNI's PhD program which provides funding, networking opportunities, and helpful guidelines (https://nanoscience.ch/en/research/phd-program/). 

Desirable experience:
-Development of quantum or stat mech codes 

Necessary:
-Very strong interest in protein sequence space 
-Quantum chemistry knowledge
-Some experience with atomistic simulation
-Master of Science in physical chemistry (materials, computer science, or physics will be considered too) from an accredited institution.
-Demonstrated writing skills


Offer
-join our vibrant, interdisciplinary, and international research group in Basel
-collaborate with experimentalists and industrial partners 
-experience a stimulating working environment: We are a member of the Institute of Physical Chemistry and the National Center for Computational Design and Discovery of Novel Materials (MARVEL), and the Swiss Nano Institute. The Biozentrum (center for molecular life sciences) is across the street, and the Swiss nano-science institute is in our building. We frequently interact with other local theory groups including the ones of Goedecker and Meuwly. 
-yearly renewable contracts and top salary 
-Basel is a city university (oldest university in Switzerland) with international flair (bordering France and Germany) and a strong ex-pat community, not only due to university but also due to Swiss Tropical Institute, Bank for International Affairs, big pharma companies, and arts community.
-Basel is very well connected with its own airport, and high-speed trains to Paris or Frankfurt.
See this Report on life in Basel on Bloomberg's news. 

How?
If you are interested in a position, please send your CV to Anatole, together with a motivation letter and names and e-mail addresses of 3 references.