Senior Associate Scientist, Engineered Cell Therapy Discovery

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Position Summary:

The Engineered Cell Therapy Discovery team in the Cell Therapy Thematic Research Center has an opening for a highly motivated and creative Senior Associate Scientist with a dedication to discovery and development of novel engineered CAR T and eTCR T cell therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and other chronic diseases. The successful candidate will have experience contributing to the conceptual design and functional testing of advanced circuits engineered into CAR T cells and a track record of generating robust and reproducible datasets to drive innovative immune cell engineering projects. This position will involve interfacing with senior researchers to execute studies, analyze data and communicate results. This position is ideal for the innovative scientist who is driven and passionate about cell therapy and knows how to lead with their data to drive key decisions for drug discovery .

Position Responsibilities:

In the role as a Senior Associate Scientist, the ideal candidate:

• Independently drives key workstreams supporting development of innovative synthetic biology strategies to enhance the therapeutic index of CAR T cells in cancer and other diseases.

• Contributes to the conceptual design and functional testing of advanced logic circuits engineered into CAR T cells. Participates in go/no-go decision-making processes to drive the development of cutting-edge cell therapies.

• Develops and optimizes novel assays to quantitatively assess the biological and functional properties of novel circuits built into engineered T cells. Ensures the robustness and reproducibility of these assays to support key project milestones.

• Generates, expands, characterizes, and cryopreserves CAR T cells and eTCR T cells.

• Performs phenotypic and functional analysis of CAR and eTCR T cells using flow cytometry, IncuCyte, and other relevant methods. Analyzes data to provide insights into the performance, quality, and potential of engineered T cells.

• Actively participates in troubleshooting of routine problems and initiatives related to continuous improvement or development of new approaches/technologies. Makes decisions that require choosing between limited alternatives to resolve problems.

• Collaborates effectively with cross-functional teams. Communicates findings clearly and concisely to stakeholders at all levels.

• Maintains electronic notebooks in a rigorous and timely manner to support project milestones and patent/regulatory filings.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree

  • 4+ years of academic and / or industry experience

Or

• Master’s Degree

  • 2+ years of academic and / or industry experience

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in the conceptualization and functional testing of novel synthetic biology/immunology technologies, especially related to logic gating and advanced engineering in T cells, is strongly desired

• Experience developing and using quantitative in vitro assays to drive decision-making, especially in drug development, is strongly desired

• Proficient in MSD, IncuCyte-based assays, multi-parameter flow cytometry, T cell activation assays, and T cell proliferation analysis.

• Experience with molecular biology, protein structure/function/folding, cell signaling, high throughput screening, automation (liquid handling robots), CRISPR gene editing, and/or imaging technologies is desired

• Skilled in generating, expanding, characterizing, and cryopreserving CAR