Drug Discovery Research Intern

About the Role

PSPM Technologies Pvt Ltd is seeking motivated research interns pursuing or holding qualifications in Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmacology, Bioinformatics, or Biotechnology to support AI-driven drug discovery projects. Interns will collaborate with research, AI, and software development teams. This is a remote, unpaid internship for a duration of six months.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct structured literature reviews on disease mechanisms, therapeutic targets, existing drugs, and potential drug candidates.
• Assist with protein structure assessment and preparation for molecular docking studies.
• Support ligand preparation, molecular structure checks, and compound library organization.
• Assist with molecular docking and virtual screening under research guidance.
• Analyze docking poses, protein–ligand interactions, and molecular properties.
• Review biological pathways, mechanisms of action, and the biological plausibility of shortlisted compounds.
• Support the interpretation of predicted absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) properties.
• Compare computational findings with published research and reference compounds, documenting limitations and evidence gaps.
• Organize research datasets, references, methods, parameters, and results to support reproducible workflows.
• Prepare scientific summaries, technical reports, presentations, and project documentation.
• Collaborate with AI and software teams to define scientific requirements and review the consistency and usability of platform outputs.
• Participate in remote team meetings and present research progress, findings, and questions.

Qualifications

Candidates should be pursuing or have completed one of the following qualifications:

• M.Pharm in Pharmaceutical Chemistry or Medicinal Chemistry.
• M.Pharm in Pharmacology.
• M.Sc in Bioinformatics.
• M.Sc in Biotechnology.
• A closely related postgraduate discipline with relevant drug discovery research experience.
• Candidates need a strong foundation in their own discipline; expertise across all four backgrounds is not required.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Relevant knowledge of medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, structural bioinformatics, molecular biology, or biotechnology.
• Ability to read scientific publications, critically evaluate evidence, and prepare clear research summaries.
• Interest in computational research and AI/ML applications in drug discovery.
• Awareness of the limitations of docking scores and ADMET predictions, including the need for experimental validation.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Attention to detail and consistent scientific documentation.
• Ability to manage assigned tasks independently and collaborate effectively in a remote setting.
• Commitment to research integrity, accurate reporting, and continuous learning.

Preferred Skills

• Academic projects or research experience involving molecular docking, virtual screening, target identification, or ADMET analysis.
• Familiarity with AutoDock Vina, PyMOL, RDKit, or comparable computational research tools.
• Experience using scientific databases such as PDB, PubChem, ChEMBL, or UniProt.
• Basic Python or R skills for scientific data analysis.
• Familiarity with protein structures, biological sequence analysis, cheminformatics, or molecular interactions.