Senior/Principal Scientist, Protein Engineering and Production

About the Company

Hillstar Bio, is a precision immunology company that recently completed a sizable Series A financing with a syndicate of blue chip investors (Droia, Frazier, Novo, LifeArc).

Hillstar aspires to build a portfolio of programs against autoimmune diseases with unmet or underserved medical needs. Its lead program is an antibody designed to selectively target a root cause of Cold Agglutinin Disease (CAD) and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). CAD is a chronic, rare (incidence 15/million) but debilitating condition with high morbidity (anemia, fatigue, cold-induced circulatory symptoms). SLE on the other hand, affects an estimated 3 million adults worldwide, with symptoms affecting various organs including joints, kidneys, blood cells, brain, heart, and lungs. Existing treatment options for CAD and SLE have limited effectiveness, carry considerable safety risks, and fail to address key disease symptoms in a large proportion of patients, leading to significant chronic morbidity and excess mortality. By bringing this new precision modality to patients, Hillstar aims to improve on safety and efficacy, as well as durability of response, setting a new gold standard for the management of CAD, SLE, and potentially other serious autoimmune conditions with a common biological origin.

Job Description

Join Hillstar Bio as an antibody engineering leader overseeing antibody engineering/production and working with a skilled team towards achieving our first IND milestone. Establish platforms of antibody engineering, protein production and receptor expressing cell lines. Perform design and production of mono, bi and multi-specific antibodies, proteins, and cell lines. Develop and delineate distinctive antibody engineering strategies of programs by corroboration with Protein Analytics and Autoimmune groups.

This pivotal role offers opportunities to shape our company culture, contribute to organization growth, and make a significant impact on treatment of autoimmune disease to benefit patients. We seek an enthusiastic scientist with extensive hands-on experience, broad knowledge in a variety of antibody modalities, and strong cross-functional collaborative mindset in a fast-paced environment.

Key duties and accountability

• Act as SME in antibody production and engineering
• Perform cell line generation and antibody production as needed.
• Develop small scale protein production platform using transient expression and stable pool.
• Explore novel bispecific/multispecific and other antibody-like therapeutic modalities.
• Support cross-functional teams with antibody engineering/production expertise and collaborate with interdisciplinary scientists.
• Maintain detailed laboratory notebooks and write SOPs.
• Monitor, maintain, and calibrate laboratory instruments and equipment.
• Proactively share skills and knowledge and train others on techniques and protocols.

Requirements

• PhD in Biochemistry, Biology, or a related field with 2+ years of experience in Protein/Ab engineering and production are required.
• Expert with hands-on experience in protein production and generation of stable Ab production cell line and surface protein expressing cell lines using CHO, HEK and Ecoli cells etc.
• Hands-on experience with lipofectamine and electroporation transfections and lentivirus transduction
• Expert in design and production of scFv, nanobody and bispecific antibodies in mammalian and bacteria expression systems.
• Experience and knowledge in antibody screening, antibody characterization and developability assessment.
• Strong skill to design and troubleshoot experiments.
• Excellent organizational and time-management skills with strong attention to detail.

Benefits

Hillstar Bio offers a competitive compensation and benefits package that includes unlimited vacation and market-leading parental leave.

Additional Information

This is a full-time position located in our Boston, MA office. Hillstar is committed to creating a diverse work culture and we are seeking individuals of all backgrounds, orientations, and identities. We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.