Scientist / Sr. Scientist -Cell, Molecular & Chemical Biology (Taosheng Chen Lab)

Location: Memphis, TN | Department: Chemical Biology and Therapeutics | Shift: Weekday Day | Position Type: Full Time | Scheduled Weekly Hours: 40 | Requisition: JR7744

About the role

At St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, we know what can be achieved when the brightest scientific minds face the fewest barriers. That's why we provide world-class facilities, state-of-the-art technologies, extraordinary support, and a collaborative, bench-to-bedside environment where you can see, firsthand, how your science translates into survival for the children we serve. Quite simply, at St. Jude, we encourage you to dream big and stop at nothing when it comes to finding cures and saving children.

The Taosheng Chen Lab within our Department of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics is seeking a collaborative and innovative Scientist or Senior Scientist with expertise in cell biology, molecular biology, and/or chemical biology to lead research efforts to develop and characterize the mechanisms of action of novel chemical probes—including agonists, antagonists, and degraders—targeting the nuclear receptors PXR and CAR. The successful candidate will independently design and execute studies, generate high-quality datasets to test scientific hypotheses, and integrate findings across multiple disciplines. The candidate will work closely with in-house structural biologists and medicinal chemists to generate complementary data and advance projects, and will take a leading role in organizing and writing multidisciplinary manuscripts.

The Chen Laboratory leverages multidisciplinary approaches to investigate the chemical regulation of nuclear receptors, with the overarching goal of elucidating nuclear receptor-driven transcriptional networks and developing innovative therapeutic strategies to combat drug resistance and tumorigenesis. Using integrated cellular, molecular, and chemical biology approaches, our research is closely aligned with structural biology and medicinal chemistry, enabling the successful execution of high-impact, collaborative studies. This synergistic framework has led to publications in leading journals, including Nature Communications (2017, 2024, 2025) and PNAS (2023), highlighting our contributions to advancing the understanding and therapeutic targeting of nuclear receptor signaling.

Research focus & key projects

The selected candidate will play a leading role in advancing the laboratory's efforts to understand and therapeutically target the nuclear receptors PXR and CAR through multidisciplinary approaches spanning cell biology, molecular biology, chemical biology, structural biology, and medicinal chemistry.

Current projects include:

• Developing and characterizing novel chemical probes, including agonists, antagonists, and degraders, targeting nuclear receptors.
• Investigating the mechanisms of action of small molecules and protein degraders, including PROTAC-based approaches.
• Defining how chemical modulation of PXR and CAR influences transcriptional networks, drug metabolism, chemotherapy response, and tumorigenesis.
• Collaborating with structural biologists to understand ligand-protein interactions and guide structure-based discovery efforts.