The Organic Chemistry Jobs Company List

Over at Organic Chemistry Jobs, a pretty neat new list: the Organic Chemistry Jobs company list.

29 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 14 new positions posted for November 14 and 15 positions posted on November 12. 

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 245 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 245 positions.

Want to help? Here's a form to fill out.

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

Coke dissolves road dust?

Via the New York Times, this odd little article about using food as cleaning agents, including the classic 101 uses for Coca-Cola: 

...Speaking of sticky things, our reader Peggy offers this suggestion: “I use a product called Goo Gone but its main ingredient is orange oil. If you have no Goo Gone, rub a piece of orange on the gunk from stick-on labels and Bob’s your uncle.” 

Ketchup — yes, it’s a vegetable, just go with us — can be used to polish brass and copper. But if you’re out, and you happen to have a pineapple handy, you’re in luck. 

“Whenever I trim a pineapple, I grab a saltshaker and whichever of my copper bottom pots needs tarnish removed: Sprinkle salt, rub with pineapple peel — Voilà!” wrote another reader.... 

...We noted that Coca-Cola can be used to clear a slow-moving drain, clean a toilet bowl and remove motor oil and grease from clothing and pavement. You all had many uses to add. Bill writes: “If road oil and dust have made your windshield smeary, pour Coke on it. The windshield comes clean,” and Thomas added, “Coke rejuvenates old windshield wiper blades.”

Orange oil as a handy solvent makes sense to me, but ketchup to remove metal oxides? Also carbonated sugar water for motor oil?  

This week's C&EN

A few of the articles from this week's issue of Chemical and Engineering News:

• Cover: "Making biologics on demand" (by Celia Henry Arnaud)
• This Mark Peplow piece on a rather unfortunate situation at the University of Manchester is worth a read 
• Rick Mullin with two articles on Hovione 
• I really enjoyed this profile of Diane Villax
• Anne McNeil's new website: DiversifyChemistry (article by Linda Wang)
• Finally time for antisense oligonucleotides? (article by Ryan Cross)

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 458 positions

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 458 positions.

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

On November 14, 2017, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 429 positions. The latest weather report for the Faculty Jobs List is here.

Interested in how this is tracking overall? Check out these sweet graphics done by Andrew Spaeth.

Want to chat? Here's the current open thread. Here's the pre-September thread, here's the September/October thread.

Otherwise, all discussions are on the Chemistry Faculty Jobs List webforum.

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List: 49 positions

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List has 49 positions. It is curated by Lilian Josephson (@lljosephson). 

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 21 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 21 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.

"I Want Miracles"

Via the New York Times, a truly heart-wrenching story of health care among the poor in China: 

Do-It-Yourself Drugs 

China in recent years has become the world’s largest home of internet users. Many Chinese now shop almost exclusively in internet bazaars that offer everything from groceries and hot meals to jewelry and cars. They can also buy pharmaceuticals — even the raw ingredients to illegally make drugs themselves. 

Many start on forums devoted to patients and their loved ones when they can’t get answers anymore. The two most popular are “I Want Miracles,” which is dedicated to helping people with lung cancer, and “Dances With Cancer.” The forums combined have just over 440,000 members. 

“This is the current state of health care in China,” said Chen Yun, who runs “I Want Miracles.” “Every doctor is just too busy, and there’s no way that they can explain many things to you clearly. But if you want to figure it out, you just have to learn by yourself.”... 

Desperate to help his mother, Mr. Zhang did a basic search: “What to do after patient develops drug resistance on Iressa?” He happened upon “Dances With Cancer” and an active participant and a longtime cancer patient called “Bean Spirit,” who wrote a manual on how to make drugs at home. 

Mr. Zhang, who previously worked at a pharmaceutical factory but was not involved in making drugs, started on his own version. He bought the ingredients for AstraZeneca’s Tagrisso, a lung cancer drug. He spent just over $150 for a month’s worth of ingredients, plastic capsules and an electronic scale. 

“The raw ingredients are worth more than the price of gold,” he said. 

When the drugs stopped working for his mother, Mr. Zhang began making others. He started having sleepless nights, worried that he would not be able to find the ingredients each time a drug stopped working.

This is a really awful story (regrettably, the ending is not much better.) I haven't been able to find "I Want Miracles", but I have questions, e.g. are they obtaining actual API, or are they actually manufacturing raw materials? (I hope it's API, for their sake.)

Funny

Credit: Mark Anthony Olson

LOL. 

Job posting: PNNL postdocs, Richland, WA

From the inbox:

Contribute to PNNL’s goals in computational biophysics/chemistry as part of the Lab’s Physical Sciences Division (PSD). As a postdoctoral researcher in the Physical Biosciences group, you will join a talented, multi-investigator team to explore the functional principles at the core of the precise energy, mass and charge flow, and reactivity in enzymes. You will be mentored by Simone Raugei, as you develop a line of computational research, working to understand the mechanism 

Best wishes to those interested. Deadline is TODAY.

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 237 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list (curated by Joel Walker and myself) has 237 positions.

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions, but if you want to do the traditional "leave a link in the comments", that works, too.

Want to chat about medchem positions? Try the open thread.

Positions I'm not including: positions outside the United States, computational positions (this will likely change), academic positions (likely never.)

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List: 10 positions

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List has 10 positions; this is curated by the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry. Want to help out? Fill out this form. 

46 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 26 new positions posted for November 5 and 20 positions posted on October 29. 

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 240 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 240 positions.

Want to help? Here's a form to fill out.

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

The mass spectrometry wars continue

Also in this week's C&EN, the latest salvo in the Letters to the Editor: 

O. David Sparkman (C&EN, Aug. 27, page 3) is correct that there is “no such thing” as the term “mass spectroscopy.” Paul J. Karol (C&EN, Oct. 1, page 2) is correct to refer to the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry but unfortunately referenced the 1991 recommendations in Pure & Applied Chemistry (DOI: 10.1351/pac199163101541). This older document has been superseded by 2013 recommendations (Pure Appl. Chem., DOI: 10.1351/pac-rec-06-04-06), which state on page 1565, “Mass spectroscopy is an obsolete synonym for mass spectrometry that should not be used to avoid confusion with spectroscopies in which the measured quantity is absorption or emission of electromagnetic radiation.” 

Unfortunately, the usually reliable IUPAC Gold Book (goldbook.iupac.org) has not been updated with the most recent recommendations and still refers to the obsolete 1991 entry for mass “spectroscopy.” Hopefully this valuable resource will be updated soon. 

Charles Lucy
Edmonton, Alberta

Never argue semantics with an analytical chemist, it seems.  

This week's C&EN

A few articles from this week's issue of Chemical and Engineering News: 

• Cover: 10 Startups to Watch
• Don't miss Ryan Cross' summary of Kronos Bio - really fascinating
• Sounds like Hurricane Florence hit UNC Wilmington really hard (by Andrea Widener)
• Check out a profile of formulation chemist Hannah Follis (by Melissa Gilden)
• "4 charged with stealing Genentech trade secrets" (article by Marc Reisch)
• I feel like this articles are becoming ever more common - seems like the Feds are cranking up the pressure
• I really enjoyed this episode of "Stereo Chemistry" about lab superstitions by Kerri Jansen

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 450 positions

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 450 positions.

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

On November 7, 2017, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 417 positions. The latest weather report for the Faculty Jobs List is here.

Interested in how this is tracking overall? Check out these sweet graphics done by Andrew Spaeth.

Want to see pre-September discussion? Check out the pre-September open thread. September discussion and October discussion is on the September open thread. This thread will serve as the open thread for November through December, or 250 comments, whichever comes first.

UPDATE: This thread is closed for further discussion - the new thread is here.

Otherwise, all discussions are on the Chemistry Faculty Jobs List webforum.

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List: 46 positions

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List has 46 positions. It is curated by Lilian Josephson (@lljosephson). 

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 20 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 20 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.