In vitro Scientist/Biochemist

Company Name: Flagship Pioneering
Location: USA

Company Summary

Cygnal Therapeutics is a privately held, early-stage biotechnology company pioneering a novel category of therapeutics, built upon the concept that the peripheral nervous system and relevant neuronal pathways play an integral role in multiple disease processes. Cygnal is developing drugs to manipulate Exoneural Biology for the treatment of cancer, immunological diseases, and regenerative processes.

Cygnal Therapeutics was founded by Flagship Pioneering, an innovation enterprise that conceives, creates, resources, and grows first-in-category life sciences companies. Flagship Pioneering has created over 40 groundbreaking companies over the past fifteen years, all of which are pioneering novel and proprietary biological, industrial, and engineering approaches to solve major needs in human health and sustainability. These companies include Seres Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MCRB), Moderna (MRNA), Syros Pharmaceuticals (SYRS), Rubius Therapeutics (RUBY), Axcella Health (AXLA), Evelo Biosciences (EVLO), and Indigo Agriculture. The company aims to expand significantly in 2019.

Position Summary

Cygnal Therapeutics is seeking a highly motivated and innovative in vitro scientist/biochemist to join its team of experienced drug hunters to identify and develop large biologic molecules for therapeutic intervention. The successful candidate will report to the VP Biologics Drug Discovery and be part of a cross-functional team that collaboratively develops therapeutic monoclonal antibodies and recombinant proteins. He or she will work closely with our target identification and validation team, our Bioinformatics team and our in vivo pharmacology team, in a highly collaborative and high-pace environment. The successful candidate should be a self-motivated individual with a drive to advance therapeutic Biologics molecules in a timely fashion. The successful candidate should be able to independently design, process and interpret scientific experiments and data and inform key stakeholders of their findings in a clear and concise fashion.

Key Responsibilities

• Coordinate the cloning, expression and purification of recombinant proteins and monoclonal antibodies
  
• Develop immune-based (ELISA) assays, in vitro binding assays (e.g. FRET) and ligand blocking assays that are suitable for the identification of novel therapeutic monoclonal antibodies
  
• Generate cell lines (by Lentiviral infections, transfections etc) and develop cell-based assays suitable for monoclonal antibody identification (i.e. reporter assays, cytokine secretion assays, as well as cell binding assays of monoclonal antibodies and protein ligands)
  
• Conduct cell profiling studies (secreted proteins/cytokines, RNA profiling)
  
• Deploy the generated cell-based and biochemical assays for the testing of a subset of monoclonal antibodies of interest in a screening campaign
  
• Determine the binding characteristics of purified recombinant proteins and identified monoclonal antibodies of interest (e.g. Octet, Biacore)
  
• Develop target engagement assays, anti-IgG and anti-Idiotype assays, as well as anti-drug assays
  

Minimum Qualifications

• Ph.D. or MSc in biochemistry or relevant biological science with 2+ years (PhD) or 5+ years (MSc) of experience in the biotechnology and/or pharmaceutical industry, identifying and developing Biologics for therapeutic intervention
  
• Expertise in biochemistry, cell biology and molecular biology
  
• Thorough understanding of the drug discovery process
  
• Experience with the development of biochemical and cell-based assays
  
• Experience with the identification and optimization of monoclonal antibodies
  
• Experience with outsourcing of research activities to contract research organizations (CROs)
  
• Be a self-motivated, well-organized individual, capable of working independently as well as in a collaborative/group environment
  
• Possess strong oral and written communication skills
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Drug discovery experience in the field of oncology, immuno-oncology or neuroscience
  
• Experience with protein purification and analytical techniques (HPLC, CD, SEC-MALS etc)
  
• Experience with tissue culture, cell line generation and flow cytometry
  
• Experience with multiple different antibody identification platforms
  
• Demonstrated contributions to therapeutic monoclonal antibody development
  
• Excellent scientific track record of high impact, peer-reviewed publications and patents
  

Recruitment & Staffing Agencies: Flagship Pioneering and its affiliated Flagship Lab companies (collectively, “FSP”) do not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to FSP or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Flagship Pioneering’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of FSP, and FSP will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.

• Seniority level

  Mid-Senior level

• Employment type

  Full-time

• Job function

  ResearchScience

• Industries

  BiotechnologyResearchVenture Capital & Private Equity