Senior Scientist, Immuno-Oncology Research

Senior Scientist, Immuno-Oncology Research 

Location: Gaithersburg, MD

Introduction 

AstraZeneca is a leading global, science-led biopharmaceutical company dedicated to transforming ideas into life-changing medicines for patients worldwide. At AstraZeneca, scientific passion drives our commitment to addressing society’s most urgent health challenges. We believe in empowering our teams to think creatively, act with agility, and flourish within a dynamic environment where innovation and progress are core values. As we advance the frontiers of medicine, leveraging pioneering approaches from next-generation drug discovery to cutting-edge applications in oncology and immunology, we seek individuals who share our drive to redefine the limits of scientific possibility. 

Main Responsibilities 

As a Senior Scientist in Immuno-Oncology, you will play a pivotal role in driving scientific discovery and progress within a future-focused and highly collaborative environment. You will design, execute, and analyze a range of in vivo, ex vivo, and in vitro experiments to characterize candidate therapeutics and elucidate novel mechanisms of action. This role calls for intellectual curiosity, scientific rigor, and a forward-looking mindset, embracing advanced technologies and methodologies, and integrating new tools as they emerge. You will actively contribute to the identification and validation of novel drug targets and ensure our pipelines remain at the industry’s cutting edge. 

Essential Requirements 

• Education: A PhD, or equivalent experience, in immunology and/or immuno-oncology, with 0-6 years of post-doctoral experience in a relevant research area. Industry experience is a plus but not required. 

• Immunological Assays: Experience in the evaluation of innate and adaptive immune function, and in the application of complex immunological assays (basic biochemical and immunological methods including cell culture, multi-color flow cytometry, ELISA/multiplex assays, etc...) 

• In vivo experimentation: Strong background in immunology and experience with performing standard mouse in vivo work (including tumor inoculation and growth monitoring, body weight monitoring, i.p, i.v., s.c., i.t. injection skills, etc.) across diverse in vivo mouse models (syngeneic models, xenograft models, humanized mouse models, etc.) 

• Independence: Ability to independently design and execute research plans for one or more programs, and to review, analyze, and interpret experimental results 

• Record Keeping: Ability to draft, execute and record protocols and experiments in a timely manner and maintain an excellent laboratory notebook 

• Communication: Proven track record of success in your research and experience preparing written scientific reports and oral presentations 

• Collaboration: Strong interpersonal, influencing, negotiating and collaboration skills together with evidence of having used these to support problem solving and delivery in a team-oriented, collaborative environment 

Desirable Requirements 

• Postdoctoral Training: Post-doctoral training, ideally demonstrating adaptability and preparedness for rapidly evolving scientific environments 

• Advanced Cell Biology and Technical Proficiency: Experience working with tumor infiltrating T cells, cancer