Happy Thanksgiving

Every year, I am incredibly thankful for my family, my friends, my community (physical and online) and my job. This year, I am very thankful for my wife and her devotion to our family.

I am also thankful for you, my readers and commenters. Thank you for your reading, your advice, your e-mails and your brilliant, insightful comments. I am truly blessed.

[An additional note: if you would ever like to meet for a cup of coffee or a beer, please reach out to my e-mail address. I often find myself in unexpected places these days, and I love to meet readers of the blog.]

My family and I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving and if you're not in the United States, a happy Thursday and Friday! 

Chemical Activity Barometer is stable in November

Well, this is better than a kick in the shins:

The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC), was stable (0.0 percent change) in November on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis following a 0.3 percent decline in October. On a year-over-year (Y/Y) basis, the barometer was off 0.2 percent (3MMA). 

The unadjusted data showed a solid 0.6 percent gain and was driven by increases among all four components. The diffusion index rose to 59 percent in November. The diffusion index marks the number of positive contributors relative to the total number of indicators monitored. The CAB reading for October was revised upward by 0.16 points and that for September by 0.18 points. 

"The CAB signals slow gains in U.S. commerce into mid-year 2020," said Kevin Swift, chief economist at ACC. 

The CAB has four main components, each consisting of a variety of indicators: 1) production; 2) equity prices; 3) product prices; and 4) inventories and other indicators.

It's hard to make a judgment based off a single indicator, but in this case, I think that "no news is good news" and that our expectations about an economic downturn in 2020 do not seem to have much data to bolster them. That said, dreams of massive chemical industry employment increase don't have much backing either. 

Warning Letter of the Week: Dollar Tree edition

From an epistle from the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research to the President and CEO of Greenbrier International, Inc dba Dollar Tree (emphases mine):

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspected your corporate headquarters, Greenbrier International, Inc. (Greenbrier) (FEI 3005269673) at 500 Volvo Parkway, Chesapeake, Virginia, from January 14 to 18, 2019 after FDA inspections revealed violative conditions at multiple foreign drug manufacturers that supplied drugs to your distribution network. Firms inspected by FDA included contract manufacturers used to manufacture Dollar Tree's Assured Brand drugs…. 

...Our inspection and review of import data revealed the following: 

2. lmport records reviewed indicated that your firm received various [redacted] and [redacted] drug products from Hangzhou Zhongbo Industrial Company, Ltd., FEI 3008229416, from October through December of 2018. An inspection of Hangzhou Zhongbo Industrial Company, Ltd. in April of 2018 revealed significant CGMP violations, including the failure to test each batch of drug for conformance with specifications prior to release (21 CFR 211.165(a)). As a result of this and other violations, Hangzhou Zhongbo lndustiial Company, Ltd. was placed on Import Alert 66-40 on September 28, 2018 and was issued a warning letter on November 27, 2018. FDA copied your COO on the outgoing warning letter.... 

...We also note that Greenbrier has, at various points in time, used contract manufacturers and suppliers with histories of significant drug CGMP violations. For example, our inspections revealed that beyond the facilities detailed above, your firm has used the following contract manufacturers and suppliers: 

2. Bicooya Cosmetics Limited, FEI 3010671652, which was issued a warning letter on August 11, 2017. This firm was also placed on Import Alert 66-40 on June 29, 2017, for, among other things, not testing finished drug products prior to distribution and for rodent feces found throughout the manufacturing facility. FDA copied your COO on the warning letter.

What’s a little rodent feces between friends? 

Newest Periodic Bagel episode: Dr. Sarah Cady, Iowa State University

Third episode of The Periodic Bagel, with guest Sarah Cady (@sarahdcady) of Iowa State University, who talks with us about magnets, civic engagement and cranberry sauce.

Rate and review us on iTunes!

Feel free to ask questions, add comments and suggestions for guests and topics in the comments.

The 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 482 research/teaching positions and 32 teaching faculty positions

The 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 482 research/teaching positions and 32 teaching assistant professor positions.

Want to add a position? Here's a Google Form to enter positions. In 2019-2020, we will be adding teaching professor positions, targeting positions that demonstrate an intention to renew permanently, 3 year terms and a promotion ladder and/or are titled "assistant teaching professor" or "associate teaching professor." As of 9/20/19, we are adding community college positions if they explicitly offer tenure.

See an error? Please contact us at chemjobber@gmail.com

On November 70, 2018, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 476 positions.

Open threads: first, second, third, fourth, fifth (current).

Can't see additional comments? Look for the "load more" button underneath the comment box.

Postdoctoral position: Ploegh lab at Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School

From the inbox:

The Ploegh lab at Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School is looking to hire a postdoctoral researcher with experience in chemistry. We conduct research at the interface of chemistry and cell biology/immunology. Interested applicants should visit the lab website: ploeghlab.com for further information. Please provide a CV, letter of interest, and a brief proposal on how your expertise could contribute to work in the Ploegh lab. These documents should be sent for review by email: http://ploeghlab.com/contact/

Best wishes to those interested. 

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List: 84 positions

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List has 84 positions. It is curated by Lilian Josephson (@lljosephson). 

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 28 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 28 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions.

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

Plastic being used as fuel for fires in Indonesia

Not such great news via the New York Times:

...More than 30 commercial kitchens in Tropodo, a village on the eastern side of Indonesia’s main island, Java, fuel their tofu production by burning a mix of paper and plastic waste, some of it shipped from the United States after Americans dumped it in their recycling bins. 

The backyard kitchens produce much of the area’s tofu, an inexpensive and high-protein food made from soy that is an important part of the local diet. But the smoke and ash produced by the burning plastic has far-reaching and toxic consequences. 

Testing of eggs laid by chickens in Tropodo, a village of 5,000 people, found high levels of several hazardous chemicals including dioxin — a pollutant known to cause cancer, birth defects and Parkinson’s disease — according to a report released this week by an alliance of Indonesian and international environmental groups.

If you read the article further, it sounds like a lot of this plastic waste comes from recycling in the United States that was diverted into the paper streams. That's not good news for anyone, especially the people eating this tofu. 

33 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there are 14 new positions for November 14 and 19 positions for November 3. 

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List: 29 positions

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List has 29 positions; this is curated by the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry. Want to help out? Fill out this form. 

The 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 470 research/teaching positions and 30 teaching faculty positions

The 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 470 research/teaching positions and 30 teaching assistant professor positions.

Want to add a position? Here's a Google Form to enter positions. In 2019-2020, we will be adding teaching professor positions, targeting positions that demonstrate an intention to renew permanently, 3 year terms and a promotion ladder and/or are titled "assistant teaching professor" or "associate teaching professor." As of 9/20/19, we are adding community college positions if they explicitly offer tenure.

See an error? Please contact us at chemjobber@gmail.com

On November 20, 2018, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 468 positions.

Here's a link to the first open thread; here's a link to the second. Here is a link to the third open thread, which will close on Tuesday at 12 PM Eastern. Here is the fourth open thread, which will close on Tuesday at noon Eastern. This will be the 5th open thread, which will open on Tuesday, November 19 at noon Eastern.

Can't see additional comments? Look for the "load more" button underneath the comment box.

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List: 83 positions

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List has 83 positions. It is curated by Lilian Josephson (@lljosephson). 

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 28 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 28 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions.

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

Henderson State chemistry professors charged for making meth

Well, this is both surprising and not: 

The authorities charged two chemistry professors in Arkansas on Friday in connection with the production of methamphetamine. 

The instructors, Terry D. Bateman, 45, and Bradley A. Rowland, 40, were charged with manufacturing methamphetamine and using drug paraphernalia, the Clark County Sheriff’s Department said. Meth is a highly addictive drug that can be manufactured illegally with chemicals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Mr. Bateman and Mr. Rowland are associate professors of chemistry at Henderson State University, a liberal arts school of about 3,500 students in Arkadelphia, about 70 miles southwest of Little Rock. 

The professors went on administrative leave as of Oct. 11, Tina V. Hall, a university associate vice president of marketing and communications, said on Sunday. 

Ms. Hall said that the school’s Reynolds Science Center had been closed on Oct. 8 because of “a report of an undetermined chemical odor.” Testing revealed an elevated presence of benzyl chloride in a lab, she said.

I wonder what got into these professors? 

The Periodic Bagel, Episode 2: Alex Goldberg and Chemjobber, guest: Stuart Cantrill

Second episode of The Periodic Bagel, with guest Stuart Cantrill of Nature Chemistry, who speaks to us about peer review, open access and his gin collection.

Rate and review us on iTunes!

Feel free to ask questions, add comments and suggestions for guests and topics in the comments. 

Warning Letter of the Week: lost in the move edition

A missive from the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research to the president of Bingbing Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd (emphasis mine):

1.    Your firm failed to maintain written production, control, or distribution records specifically associated with a batch of a drug product for at least one year after the expiration date of the batch (21 CFR 211.180(a)). 

You manufactured drugs at your Wuhan facility at Building [redacted], No. 5, Kangda Street, Longyang Avenue, Hanyang District, Wuhan, and then transferred drug production to your Hubei facility and closed the Wuhan facility. Your firm failed to maintain manufacturing records, raw material and finished product testing records, retain samples, stability samples, and other CGMP records for your over-the-counter (OTC) [redacted] drug products manufactured at your Wuhan facility. During the inspection at the Hubei facility, you stated that you lost CGMP manufacturing documentation and drug product samples during the transfer of your manufacturing facility from Wuhan to Hubei in May 2018.

Yep, happens all the time in moves. You put your batch records in the box, the box gets loaded onto a truck, stuff gets moved around, it gets lost! 

Job postings: Flow/Organic Chemist, and Analytical Chemist, CONTINUUS Pharmaceuticals, Woburn, MA

From the inbox, an analytical chemist and a flow chemist for CONTINUUS Pharmaceuticals in Woburn, MA:

Analytical chemist (BS/MS): CONTINUUS is looking to hire a full-time analytical chemist to work on the analysis of samples (mainly HPLC) from continuous manufacturing processes for small-molecule pharmaceuticals. This represents a unique opportunity to become involved in the development of next generation drug manufacturing technologies as a key member of a fast-growing company. The individual must thrive in a fast-paced environment, be adaptable and motivated by the opportunity to learn new technologies.  

Flow chemist (PhD): CONTINUUS Pharmaceuticals is seeking a highly qualified flow chemist who will be responsible for developing creative solutions for small molecule drug candidates manufactured via continuous processing. This scientist will provide process analytical technology and continuous manufacturing expertise, devising synthetic routes and developing new technologies to enable continuous processing. 

Full ads here and here. Best wishes to those interested. 

The 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 463 research/teaching positions and 29 teaching faculty positions

The 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 463 research/teaching positions and 29 teaching assistant professor positions.

Want to add a position? Here's a Google Form to enter positions. In 2019-2020, we will be adding teaching professor positions, targeting positions that demonstrate an intention to renew permanently, 3 year terms and a promotion ladder and/or are titled "assistant teaching professor" or "associate teaching professor." As of 9/20/19, we are adding community college positions if they explicitly offer tenure.

See an error? Please contact us at chemjobber@gmail.com

On November 13, 2018, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 458 positions.

Here's a link to the first open thread; here's a link to the second. Here is a link to the third open thread, which will close on Tuesday at 12 PM Eastern. This will be the fourth open thread, which will close on the Tuesday after it reaches 200 or more comments.

UPDATE: thread closed at 6:53 PM Eastern, new thread here.

Can't see additional comments? Look for the "load more" button underneath the comment box.

Postdoctoral position: chemical biology of natural products, Burkhart Lab, UCSD, La Jolla, CA

From the inbox, a postdoctoral position at UCSD:

Postdoctoral Position in Chemical Biology of Natural Products The Burkart lab is seeking a natural product scientist to support chemical and structural biology studies of biosynthetic enzymes. Applicants should have a Ph.D. (or anticipated) in chemistry, biochemistry, or microbiology and have experience with molecular biology of metabolic pathways in Streptomyces or related microorganisms. This is a paid, full time, postdoctoral position based in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the main campus of University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, CA. For immediate consideration please send a cover letter and resume to Prof. Michael Burkart at mburkart@ucsd.edu. 

Best wishes to those interested. 

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List: 83 positions

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List has 83 positions. It is curated by Lilian Josephson (@lljosephson). 

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 28 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 28 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions.

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

Student burned in high school chemistry class in alcohol fire

It happened again:

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A Western Guilford High School student is in the hospital after an explosion in her chemistry class Wednesday. Aimee Green, 16, is a junior at the high school. She is listed in good condition at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, according to a spokesperson. 

“Please pray for our beautiful daughter Aimee Green. She was in chemistry today, and the teacher was doing an experiment. It went badly and exploded. The explosion went right onto Aimee, and caught her hair, face, chest and arm on fire,” Aimee’s mom, Alicia Coverston Green, wrote on Facebook. 

The experiment involved ethanol, alcohol and salt, Green said. 

Green said her daughter was admitted to the burn ICU on Friday for fluid resuscitation, pain control and wound care. 

Another student was injured but not as badly, officials with the school district said.

Other reports indicate that it could not be confirmed that the student was wearing PPE.

A reminder that the American Chemical Society's Committee on Chemical Safety "recommends that the “Rainbow” demonstration on open benches involving the use of flammable solvents such as methanol be discontinued immediately due to extreme risk of flash fires and flame jetting."

View From My Hood?: Frankfurt, Germany edition

(got a View from Your Hood submission? Send it in (with a caption and preference for name/anonymity, please) at chemjobber@gmail.com; will run every other Friday.)

Bagel Bite 2: sandwiches

There are more than 20 times as many chemical manufacturers in China as the US

Via a very interesting article in The New York Times Magazine on DEA efforts to stem the fentanyl trade, this remarkable description of the Chinese chemical industry: 

According to the State Department, China has between 160,000 and 400,000 chemical companies operating legally, illegally or somewhere in between — an expansive estimate that reflects both the vastness of the industry and the scarcity of the information available. Some of these facilities manufacture tons of chemicals every week, or more than a million pills per day. In 2016, the industry made up 3 percent of China’s national economy, with over $100 billion in profits annually. Most of these companies are members of the vast pharmaceutical underclass, pumping out huge quantities of inexpensive generic drugs and pharmaceutical ingredients. It’s a low-cost, low-profit business, but the barriers to entry are minimal, and the market is immense: The basic pharmaceutical ingredients that China produces are needed by more advanced drug companies everywhere in the world — including the United States — for synthesis into more complex and profitable medicines. 

The agency responsible for overseeing production of drugs and detecting malfeasance in China is understaffed and overwhelmed: As of 2017, there were around 2,000 inspectors at the agency, and they conducted a total of only 751 inspections that year, a minuscule figure compared with the enormousness of the industry. In the United States, law enforcement and prosecutors have the tools to react quickly to the rise of new copycat drugs that could be used for illicit purposes. Under the Controlled Substance Analogue Enforcement Act, passed in 1986, any new compound that is “substantially similar” to an already banned, or scheduled, drug can be treated as if it were chemically identical. But chemicals banned in the United States often remain legal in China, where the process for controlling chemicals is slow and cumbersome, especially for substances like fentanyl that exist in the purgatory between legitimate pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs.

By comparison, an EPA web page last updated in 2016 indicates there are 13,500 chemical manufacturing facilities, with 9000 companies that own them. That's quite a difference. 

The 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 447 research/teaching positions and 28 teaching faculty positions

The 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 447 research/teaching positions and 28 teaching assistant professor positions.

Want to add a position? Here's a Google Form to enter positions. In 2019-2020, we will be adding teaching professor positions, targeting positions that demonstrate an intention to renew permanently, 3 year terms and a promotion ladder and/or are titled "assistant teaching professor" or "associate teaching professor." As of 9/20/19, we are adding community college positions if they explicitly offer tenure.

See an error? Please contact us at chemjobber@gmail.com

On November 6, 2018, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 450 positions.

Here's a link to the first open thread; here's a link to the second. Here is a link to the third open thread, which will close a week from today. 

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List: 79 positions

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List has 79 positions. It is curated by Lilian Josephson (@lljosephson). 

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 28 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 28 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions.

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

What is this layoff season going to look like?

Because I don't fully understand the rhythms of the American corporate machine just quite yet, it has taken me a number of years to fully understand why we have layoffs in November and December, around the time of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Nowadays, I better understand that it is about third quarter results, and the reactions of corporate officers to either a good year (no layoffs, ideally) or a bad year (start cutting jobs now.) It's November now, and here we go with Amgen (via FiercePharma): 

As Amgen rides the wave of hype and hope for its early-stage KRAS effort as well as other cancer assets in its pipeline, this is pushing out its work on neuroscience. 

To that end, the biopharma company is looking to slim down its efforts in that area, which could see nearly 200 jobs at risk, as it moves away from its neuro work in Cambridge, and focuses more on its R&D on the West Coast. 

Also, from last month in the Philadelphia Inquirer: 

Merck, the international pharmaceutical giant, announced mass layoffs that will hit its sales personnel based in suburban Philadelphia. 

About 500 people affiliated with Merck’s offices in Lansdale and Upper Gwynedd will lose their jobs in permanent reductions in force, the company said in a required letter it filed Wednesday with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry... Earlier this month, Johnson & Johnson said it planned to eliminate 297 employees at its Wayne facility, in a similar letter sent to the Department of Labor.

Overall, according to Challenger, Gray and Christmas's layoff report, layoffs in the pharmaceutical industry are up 4.6% this year from 2018. We'll have to see how this goes. At the same time, Friday's jobs report numbers were pretty decent (via The New York Times): 

The American jobs engine has been beaten and battered, but it just keeps chugging along. 

Employers added 128,000 jobs in October, the Labor Department said Friday, and revisions to prior months’ data tacked on another 95,000. The figures for October would have been stronger had it not been for the strike at General Motors, which shaved close to 50,000 workers from the employment rolls, and for the layoff of some 20,000 temporary census workers. 

The unemployment rate ticked up to 3.6 percent, still near a half-century low.

If we're going to have a classic recession, we'll see decreases in jobs in November and December. While my intuitions are entirely leaning towards the thought that there will be a recession of some kind next year (i.e. visible declines in the topline jobs numbers and/or negative quarters of GDP), we haven't seen those signs yet in the broader economy. It will be very interesting to see if we see evidence of declines in hiring in the chemistry/pharma market.

Job posting: Ambercycle, R&D chemist, Los Angeles, CA

From the inbox, this position: 

BACKGROUND 

We are a fast-moving, high-growth chemical technology startup that is developing a process to turn old clothing into new textiles. Our highly dynamic, collaborative team is composed of the world’s brightest and most unique scientists and engineers. 

THE JOB 

We are looking for a highly motivated scientist who will develop and scale our technology for making brand new yarns from old clothing. 

You will be working with senior leadership to understand and prioritize process improvements, design experiments to make those improvements, and execute these plans in the laboratory. You will develop analytical methods for R&D as well as scale-up, and develop new products within our R&D team. You will use your chemistry know-how to work with engineers and scale-up processes.

You are detail oriented and highly enthusiastic about science and scaling a first-in-kind sustainable process. Ideally, you have a strong experimental background and commanding knowledge of physical, organic, and polymer chemistry. 

Specific techniques required: GPC/SEC, DSC, GC/MS, working knowledge of elemental analysis. Adequate safety know-how is an absolute must. You must be comfortable in a fast-paced, open environment with minimal direction.

Contact information here. Best wishes to those information.