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Medicinal chemist skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Dunwei Wang Ph.D.,

Dunwei Wang Ph.D.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical medicinal chemist skills. We ranked the top skills for medicinal chemists based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 18.9% of medicinal chemist resumes contained nmr as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a medicinal chemist needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 medicinal chemist skills for your resume and career

1. NMR

The Nuclear Magnetic Resonance technique allows observing magnetic fields around an object. The NMR equipment requires monitoring and ensuring their correct and safe utilization.

Here's how medicinal chemists use nmr:

Interpreted data from both NMR and Mass Spectroscopy.
Analyzed compound purity using LCMS and NMR spectroscopy.

2. SAR

SAR is a measure of the rate of radiofrequency energy is absorbed per unit mass by a human body from the source being measured. This provides a simple way of measuring the RF exposure of cell phones to confirm if they are within the safety regulations set by the FCC. SSAR is averaged either over the entire body, or a little sample volume that is 1 g/10 g of tissue.

Here's how medicinal chemists use sar:

Developed synthetic route for novel chemical scaffolds and generated SAR around the hits from the HTS screening.
Study of SAR data from the results of biological studies; propose newmolecules based on study.

3. HPLC

Here's how medicinal chemists use hplc:

Skilled in usage and interpretation of 1H-NMR, HPLC and LCMS instrumentation to determine structure and purity.
Separated desired products using column chromatography and HPLC.

4. Organic Synthesis

Here's how medicinal chemists use organic synthesis:

Determined the quality of the product generated through the organic synthesis by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.
Create and follow protocol for large-scale industrial custom organic synthesis.

5. LC-MS

Here's how medicinal chemists use lc-ms:

Conducted product composition and competitive product analysis and identification by LC-MS.
Developed LC-MS methods for determination of Ecolab products in a variety of sample matrices.

6. Drug Discovery

Drug Discovery, in the scientific fields of medicine and pharmacology, refers to the exploration and discovery of new and effective medicinal substances and compounds, most usually through years of dedicated research and a large number of studies, conducted tests, and revisions.

Here's how medicinal chemists use drug discovery:

Drug discovery, Lead optimization, Process chemistry on Diabetes, Allergy Projects.
Provided key contribution to several CNS drug discovery projects.

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7. Biological Data

Biological Data refers to the information gathered from a living organism. This may be regarding the organism's genetic code, the products made from the organism, or the environment where the organism was found. This information is added to a biological database, which can then be accessed by biologists to review previously gathered data and genetic code.

Here's how medicinal chemists use biological data:

Achieved through modern parallel chemistry, molecular modeling, structure activity relationship analysis, and biological data evaluation.

8. API

Here's how medicinal chemists use api:

Conducted water treatments employing API oil/water separator, corrugated plate interceptor, and chemical coagulant.
Conducted API and Specific Gravity measurements with a Kyoto Model DA-300 Density/Specific Gravity Meter.

9. Clinical Candidate

Here's how medicinal chemists use clinical candidate:

Synthesized a potent compound that was chosen from hundreds of alternates to become the back-up clinical candidate.
Designed and synthesized Hedgehog Inhibitors, resulting in a preclinical candidate for cancer treatment.3.

10. IND

IND which stands for "Investigational New Drug" are drug applications submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Some IND is submitted to start clinical trials to gain marketing approval for commercial purposes while others are purely research-oriented to study an unapproved drug for a patient population or new evidence.

Here's how medicinal chemists use ind:

Trained in almost all production and quality control of FDG, NaF, 13NH3, and several IND nuclear pharmaceuticals

11. Synthetic Routes

Here's how medicinal chemists use synthetic routes:

Gathered, organized, and interpreted data and utilized analysis to improve product potency and design more efficient/cost effective synthetic routes.
Planned and executed several synthetic routes to access 2-aminoindoles in gram quantities for DMPK and toxicology studies.

12. Intellectual Property

Intellectual properties refer to individuals' intangible or non-physical wealth, which results from their imaginations and intellect.

Here's how medicinal chemists use intellectual property:

Synthesized other molecular entities based upon established Gilead intellectual property.

13. R

R is a free software environment and a language used by programmers for statistical computing. The R programming language is famously used for data analysis by data scientists.

Here's how medicinal chemists use r:

Used R, SSL, and SQL programming to identify and fix multiple processing and GUI problems with StarLIMS v9.
Guide & support Energy Services R, D&E to meet and prioritize business goals.

14. Literature Search

Here's how medicinal chemists use literature search:

Conducted literature searches using several databases and traditional sources.
Conducted literature searches to understand the patent space in order to synthesize novel compounds.

15. Organic Compounds

Here's how medicinal chemists use organic compounds:

Design, synthesize and purify organic compounds according to clients' needs
Synthesized organic compounds directed toward use as feed efficiency and anthelmintic agents.

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What skills help Medicinal Chemists find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on medicinal chemist resumes?

Dunwei Wang Ph.D.

Margaret A & Thomas A Vanderslice Chair in Chemistry, Professor of Chemistry, Chairperson of Chemistry Department, Boston College

Skills to identify and solve problems.

What soft skills should all medicinal chemists possess?

Dunwei Wang Ph.D.

Margaret A & Thomas A Vanderslice Chair in Chemistry, Professor of Chemistry, Chairperson of Chemistry Department, Boston College

Problem-solving skills. When presented with a problem, knowing where to go to find information to solve it.

What hard/technical skills are most important for medicinal chemists?

Dunwei Wang Ph.D.

Margaret A & Thomas A Vanderslice Chair in Chemistry, Professor of Chemistry, Chairperson of Chemistry Department, Boston College

Chemistry is a diverse field. As a foundational discipline, it enables several sub-fields and supports emerging new fields. As one example, our graduates become experts in medical research, health care, and scientists and engineers in many other fields. Depending on the different career goals, what is important can be drastically different. Generally speaking, doing bench work (either in the lab or on a computer) should be a good skill to have at graduation.

What medicinal chemist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Alan Chen Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Dept of Chemistry & the RNA Institute, University at Albany, SUNY at Albany

Our most successful students start research no later than sophomore year and many opt for our 5-year combined BS/MS track. These students outcompete BS-level applicants for entry-level jobs, and start at higher salary and responsibility levels as many companies will count time in graduate school as "prior experience". The MS degree is particularly versatile as it can also be earned part-time by current employees looking to advance, and unlike the PhD does not over-qualify you for the vast majority of entry level chemist positions. MS degrees typically enable early-career chemists to move up the ranks into management or team-leader positions after a few years. They are also a possible way for recent grads who were unable to get a job due to lack of research experience in undergrad, to get that crucial research experience during their MS thesis, and possibly even upgrade-in-place to our PhD program if they are doing really well. Basically, there seems to be no drawback to getting an MS in Chemistry at a research-intensive university for the vast majority of scientific career tracks.

What type of skills will young medicinal chemists need?

Dr. Brian Augustine Ph.D.

Professor of Chemistry and Chair, High Point University

Students always need foundational technical skills. In addition to skills specific to chemistry and biochemistry, strong communication and interpersonal skills such as writing, speaking, and collaboration are vital, as are quantitative reasoning skills such as data analytics, statistical analysis, and programming.

Do you want to know more?

List of medicinal chemist skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a medicinal chemist resume and required skills for a medicinal chemist to have include:

NMR
SAR
HPLC
Organic Synthesis
LC-MS
Drug Discovery
Biological Data

API
Clinical Candidate
IND
Synthetic Routes
Intellectual Property
R
Literature Search

Organic Compounds
Synthesis
Drug Development
Diabetes
Infectious Disease
Drug Candidates
Clinical Trials

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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