Think someone who could walk into Ardena, Bachem, or a Karolinska peptide lab and operate day one.

Core Identity

A senior Bioconjugation / Peptide Formulation Chemist with:

·       Deep command of click chemistry (CuAAC, SPAAC, Tetrazine–TCO).

·       Hands-on experience with peptide synthesis and PEGylation, including troubleshooting failed modifications.

·       Strong grasp of LNP design: encapsulation efficiency, particle sizing, lipid ratios, stability testing.

·       Experience with buccal or mucosal delivery systems, or at minimum oral/transmucosal barriers and permeation enhancers.

·       Ability to manage external CRO partners (like LifeTein, BOC Sciences, Ardena) and to challenge their recommendations intelligently.

·       A “weaponized detail-oriented” mindset: nothing slips; everything gets validated.

This person must fully understand the technical workflow, including conjugation, peptide mapping, nanoparticle compatibility, and controlled release on buccal mucosa. They need to execute decisions decisively without drifting into theory.

Required Hard Skills

1. Click Chemistry & Bioconjugation

Must be fluent in:

·       SPAAC, IEDDA (tetrazine ligation), CuAAC

·       Linker stability under acid and saliva conditions

·       PEG linkers, cleavable linkers, self-immolative linkers

·       Cys conjugation, maleimide chemistry, N3/DBCO strategies

Our current pipeline explicitly requires this level of command.

2. Peptide Chemistry / Conjugation

·       Solid-phase peptide synthesis troubleshooting

·       PEGylation of peptides for stability and PK enhancement

·       Conjugation to ligands, aptamers, or ADC components

·       Purification via HPLC, MCSGP, PEC methodologies

·       Characterization (HPLC, LC-MS, DLS)

3. Nanoparticle Formulation

Our platform depends on someone who can independently validate:

·       Lipid composition screening

·       Encapsulation efficiency >90%

·       Particle stability in simulated saliva and under mechanical stress

·       Mucoadhesive polymers (chitosan, pectin)

·       Release kinetics in Franz diffusion cells

4. Buccal Delivery & Stability

They must understand:

·       Enzymatic threats in oral mucosa

·       pH stability windows

·       Mechanical shear tolerance

·       Diffusion limitations of peptides across mucosa

·       Use of permeation enhancers and inhibitors

5. Cross-functional Execution

They must be comfortable coordinating with:

·       LifeTein (custom click conjugation and PEGylation)

·       BOC (LNP validation pipeline)

·       Prepaire (in vitro and computational modeling)

·       Ardena (CMC and scale-up issues)

Required Personality Traits

1. Steel-trap mind

Sharp, fast, detail-picking, analytical. No emotional fragility. Can review a formulation in minutes and find the failure point.

2. Zero handholding

They must be able to build the entire chemistry and formulation pipeline without supervision.

3. Builder mentality

We are creating a platform no one has done before. They need appetite for first-principles problem solving.

4. Contrarian but correct

Someone who pushes back instantly when something is technically flawed. Not polite. Competent.

5. Workhorse ethic

They don’t hide behind GPT, emails or academic language. They run experiments, fix problems, and deliver.

Preferred Backgrounds

Senior Scientist / Principal Scientist from:

– Moderna (LNP and RNA delivery teams)

– Bachem (peptide synthesis)

– AstraZeneca (mucosal delivery and peptide therapeutics)

– Karolinska Institutet peptide labs

– Catalent or Lonza biologics

– MIT/ETH Zürich drug delivery groups

PhD in Chemical Biology, Peptide Chemistry, Nanomedicine, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or Bioconjugate Chemistry.

7–15 years experience minimum.