Postdoctoral Positions

Applications are invited for three postdoctoral positions. The positions offer competitive salaries and two-year appointments, renewable upon mutual agreement.

Join the Lab

We welcome one research assistant, master's and PhD students, undergraduate interns, and visiting researchers interested in AI for drug discovery and precision medicine.

Our lab offers regular one-on-one mentorship and career planning, with opportunities to co-author publications and connect with researchers at Harvard, NUS, Roche, and leading AI groups worldwide. Research is supported by ZJU’s HPC cluster, dedicated GPU servers, cloud computing credits, and large-scale molecular, clinical, and multi-omics datasets. Building on our track record in Nature-family journals, we support publication in leading journals and travel to conferences such as NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, and ISMB.

Send your CV, a one-page statement of research interests, and representative work. Applications are welcome year-round.

shenwx25@zju.edu.cn

Application guidelines

Research assistant. Applicants should hold a relevant bachelor's degree or above and have strong Python and machine learning skills. Research or industry experience is a plus. Both future graduate students and applicants seeking a longer-term research role are welcome.

Graduate study. PhD recruitment is through ZJU's Pharmaceutical Sciences or Computer Science programs. Master's opportunities cover Pharmaceutical Sciences, Bioinformatics, and Computer Science, including project-based and co-supervision options. Strong programming skills and research motivation are valued.

Internships & visits. Undergraduates from ZJU and peer institutions are welcome for semester-long or summer internships. No prior research experience is required. Allowances follow applicable standards. Visiting researchers from partner institutions are welcome for 3–12 months, with their own project or on an ongoing lab project.

Application materials. Representative work may include publications, GitHub, or a portfolio. For postdoctoral and RA applications, combine your materials into a single PDF, including education and work history, a publication list, and the full text of 1–3 representative papers or research outputs.

Use the subject line [Position] – Your Name, e.g. “Postdoc 01 – Jane Smith” or “PhD Application – Li Wei”. Interviews are prioritized for qualified candidates.

Exceptional high school students interested in AI and biosciences may also enquire about short-term exposure programs. Please include a school recommendation letter.

AI Agent for Automated Drug Discovery

Research

We are building next-generation autonomous AI agent systems that close the loop between molecular design, property prediction, synthesis planning, and experimental feedback. The successful candidate will develop multi-step reasoning agents and human-in-the-loop frameworks to accelerate lead compound discovery. This project interfaces with our existing platforms (Leadmaster, MolMap) and has strong prospects for high-impact publication and industry translation.

The project draws on large-scale in-house datasets covering target activity, cellular phenotypes, and molecular metabolic properties. Close collaboration with wet-lab teams supports experimental validation, druggability assessment, and industry translation.

Candidate profile

  • Ph.D. in CS, AI, Cheminformatics, or related field
  • Strong experience with LLMs, tool-use agents, or RLHF
  • Familiarity with molecular representations (SMILES, graphs)
  • Strong publication record in top AI/ML venues
  • Experience in molecular generation or virtual screening is a plus. Interdisciplinary backgrounds combining computation with chemistry or biology are especially welcome

General Postdoctoral Eligibility

  • Applicants who have completed or are about to complete a relevant Ph.D. are welcome. Related backgrounds include bioinformatics, drug design, medical informatics, cheminformatics, and computational chemistry, depending on the research direction.
  • Ability to think independently, solve problems creatively, and proactively advance research.
  • High-quality publications as first or co-first author, strong academic integrity, and a collaborative approach.
  • Full-time commitment to postdoctoral research is required. The recruitment announcement specifies no age restriction.

Postdoctoral Compensation & Benefits

  • Compensation follows ZJU and national postdoctoral policies, with an individually negotiated package based on qualifications and competitive with industry.
  • Social insurance and housing provident fund contributions, employee health examinations, and eligibility to apply for university postdoctoral apartments.
  • Strong research facilities and international collaborations, with encouragement to attend leading academic conferences in China and abroad.
  • Support for applications to the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and local research and postdoctoral funding programs.
  • Outstanding postdoctoral researchers may receive recommendations for opportunities at ZJU or leading institutions in China and abroad.

AI for Chemistry & Reaction Discovery

Research

This position focuses on applying machine learning to chemical reaction space exploration and property prediction. We have access to a proprietary million-scale reaction dataset enabling novel research on reaction outcome prediction, condition optimization, and retrosynthesis. The candidate will develop graph-based and transformer models tailored to chemical reaction data, with opportunities to co-design experiments with wet-lab collaborators.

Research also addresses reaction feasibility assessment, with wet-lab validation supporting the design and optimization of drug molecules.

Candidate profile

  • Ph.D. in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or ML
  • Experience with reaction prediction or synthesis planning models
  • Proficiency in deep learning frameworks (PyTorch preferred)
  • Background in organic chemistry is a strong plus
  • Experience in reaction feasibility prediction or in pharmaceutical, chemical, or AI companies is a plus

General Postdoctoral Eligibility

  • Applicants who have completed or are about to complete a relevant Ph.D. are welcome. Related backgrounds include bioinformatics, drug design, medical informatics, cheminformatics, and computational chemistry, depending on the research direction.
  • Ability to think independently, solve problems creatively, and proactively advance research.
  • High-quality publications as first or co-first author, strong academic integrity, and a collaborative approach.
  • Full-time commitment to postdoctoral research is required. The recruitment announcement specifies no age restriction.

Postdoctoral Compensation & Benefits

  • Compensation follows ZJU and national postdoctoral policies, with an individually negotiated package based on qualifications and competitive with industry.
  • Social insurance and housing provident fund contributions, employee health examinations, and eligibility to apply for university postdoctoral apartments.
  • Strong research facilities and international collaborations, with encouragement to attend leading academic conferences in China and abroad.
  • Support for applications to the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and local research and postdoctoral funding programs.
  • Outstanding postdoctoral researchers may receive recommendations for opportunities at ZJU or leading institutions in China and abroad.

AI for Multi-Omics & Precision Medicine

Research

Building on our COMPASS immunotherapy prediction framework, this project advances target discovery, predictive model development, and clinical validation in precision oncology. The candidate will work with large-scale multi-center patient cohorts, developing multi-omics AI models that integrate genomics, transcriptomics, and clinical data. Strong translational potential with direct clinical research partnerships.

Resources include internal and external cancer immunotherapy cohorts with single-cell and bulk multi-omics data. Clinical AI research spans systems biology, novel therapies, diagnosis, and precision treatment, with translation opportunities through collaborations with ZJU-affiliated hospitals, Roche, and Harvard Medical School.

Candidate profile

  • Ph.D. in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, or ML
  • Experience with multi-omics analysis (RNA-seq, WES, proteomics)
  • Familiarity with survival analysis and clinical data
  • Prior work in cancer genomics or immunotherapy is a plus
  • Biology or medicine backgrounds and experience in clinical diagnostics are welcome. Familiarity with LLMs and foundation-model development is a plus

General Postdoctoral Eligibility

  • Applicants who have completed or are about to complete a relevant Ph.D. are welcome. Related backgrounds include bioinformatics, drug design, medical informatics, cheminformatics, and computational chemistry, depending on the research direction.
  • Ability to think independently, solve problems creatively, and proactively advance research.
  • High-quality publications as first or co-first author, strong academic integrity, and a collaborative approach.
  • Full-time commitment to postdoctoral research is required. The recruitment announcement specifies no age restriction.

Postdoctoral Compensation & Benefits

  • Compensation follows ZJU and national postdoctoral policies, with an individually negotiated package based on qualifications and competitive with industry.
  • Social insurance and housing provident fund contributions, employee health examinations, and eligibility to apply for university postdoctoral apartments.
  • Strong research facilities and international collaborations, with encouragement to attend leading academic conferences in China and abroad.
  • Support for applications to the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and local research and postdoctoral funding programs.
  • Outstanding postdoctoral researchers may receive recommendations for opportunities at ZJU or leading institutions in China and abroad.