Associate Scientist, Protein Therapeutics

Job Description

The Protein Engineering group is a specialized team within the Protein Therapeutics department that is responsible for the optimization and engineering of large molecule drug candidates. We seek a highly motivated Associate Scientist to support a multidisciplinary team with capabilities in protein engineering, cloning, expression, purification and characterization of large molecule drug candidates to develop novel biologics for clinical development and to create cutting-edge technologies driven by computational protein design. The successful candidate will assist with the translation of in silico designs to the wet lab.

Essential Duties and Job Functions:

In this laboratory-based role, the successful candidate will support efforts to optimize large molecule therapeutics. The candidate will express and purify large panels of protein designs, as well as implement biophysical and biochemical assays to evaluate new technologies and characterize biologics for diverse target classes. Additional job requirements:

Enable rapid optimization of novel antibody and protein therapeutics through iterative design, build, test, and learn cycles.

Advance engineering technologies to enable large molecule drug development.

• Characterize the binding and functional properties of antibodies, multispecifics, immunocytokines, and other biologics.
• Maintain familiarity with scientific literature and independently design, execute, analyze, and interpret experiments.
• Effectively communicate and present project goals and experimental findings to diverse audiences.
• Organize and execute multiple projects in a collaborative team setting.
• Thrive in a fast paced, data-driven and scientifically rigorous environment.
• Maintain compliance with company policies and record keeping.

Knowledge, Experience and Skills:

Applicants must have a B.S./M.S. in molecular biology, biochemistry, structural biology or a related field, with a minimum of 4+ for B.S./ 2+ for M.S. years of relevant professional experience. An ideal candidate will have experience in most of the following areas:

• Experience in laboratory techniques supporting structural biology and molecular biology.
• Familiarity with structure-based protein engineering and design principles.
• Knowledge and understanding of molecular biology techniques: cloning, plasmid preparation, vector design, and mutagenesis.
• Proficient in mammalian cell culture, protein expression
• Experience with protein purification using an AKTA Pure/Avant for SEC, IEX, HIC, mixed mode, and affinity chromatography. Experience with different multispecific formats, immunocytokines, and fusion proteins preferred.
• Excellent communication and organizational skills.
• Ability to multi-task and self-motivated with excellent problem-solving skills.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience with biochemical assays and quantitative analysis of protein-protein binding interactions (e.g. FACS, ELISA, Octet, Carterra).
• Familiarity with computational design tools such as Rosetta, ProteinMPNN, MOE, Schrodinger, etc is a plus