Head of Biology

Each day, the lives of more than 2 billion people across the globe are impacted by chronic diseases. Moreover, the economic burden on society of treating chronic disease is spinning out of control. Today, this dire situation appears unlikely to change as >95% of global healthcare costs are spent on treating rather than preventing chronic diseases. Flagship Labs 84, Inc. is a privately held early-stage company that is applying advanced biological and computational platforms to discover breakthroughs in detection of and intervention against the etiologies that drive progression from health to disease. Our goal is to leverage our proprietary platforms to disrupt the current approach of treating chronic disease after symptoms onset. We endeavor to provide true health care rather than sick care to individuals that are at risk of progressing to disease.

FL84 was founded by Flagship Pioneering, an innovation enterprise dedicated to originating and developing first-in-category life sciences companies. Since Flagship’s founding in 2000, the firm has originated and fostered the development of nearly 100 scientific ventures resulting in $20+ billion in aggregate value, 500+ issued patents, and more than 50 clinical trials for novel therapeutic agents. Flagship-founded companies include Moderna Therapeutics, Seres Therapeutics, and Indigo Agriculture.

Position Summary:

FL84 is seeking a highly motivated and experienced Head of Biology to lead a growing scientific team and be responsible for driving platform discovery and identification of preemptive intervention and detection targets. The experienced scientific leader will work closely with FL84 Senior Leadership to strengthen and expand our proprietary platforms and drive our efforts to unlock key insights underlying disease progression, ultimately resulting in development of novel Preemptive Medicines. The ideal candidate must be independent, results oriented, have excellent communication skills and be able to effectively lead in a highly dynamic and fast-paced entrepreneurial environment. Importantly, they should have experience collaborating closely with computational teams to facilitate data driven discovery and validation. The position will provide a unique opportunity to play a foundational leadership role in the development of FL84’s translational platform.

Responsibilities:

• Lead FL84 platform development and target discovery efforts across multiple chronic conditions.
• Formulate, articulate, and implement strategies to drive the enhancement and expansion of FL84’s platform across all prevalent chronic conditions.
• Create a pipeline of subject derived biological data that effectively captures health transitions and enables analysis of confounding biological variables (age, comorbidities, etc.).
• Discover and validate preemptive intervention targets and biomarkers across multiple chronic conditions to support the development of novel preemptive medicines.
• Innovate on the most effective assays and/or readouts to evaluate the impact of modifying a therapeutic target and its downstream consequences.
• Facilitate effective collaboration and communication within multi-disciplinary FL84 team comprised of cellular and molecular biologists, computational biologists, and data scientists.
• Develop and manage external research collaborations.
• Communicate platform strategy, insights, and key conclusions to broader FL84 team and executive management.

• Provide hands-on leadership, mentoring, and training for FL84’s Platform and Target Discovery team.
• Establish and foster a culture of resilience, ambition, boldness, creativity, and collaboration.
• Support the development of FL84’s IP portfolio, working closely with the team to plan, create, and execute an aggressive IP strategy to protect and expand FL84’s intellectual property.

Qualifications:

• PhD or equivalent in molecular biology, cellular biology, biochemistry, pharmacology, or related fields with 12+ years of postdoctoral / industry research experience
• Deep knowledge of cellular and molecular biology, in vitro assay development, in vivo experimental design and execution across multiple chronic disease areas
• Experience collaborating with computational teams
• Proven platform discovery and development experience
• Deep expertise and demonstrated leadership in molecular and cellular biology research, clear understanding of the role of translational research/medicine in drug development
• Experience managing critical path activities and strategy for indications in key areas of interest
• Capable of managing multiple projects concurrently in a fast-paced environment while leading a team of highly motivated, dedicated scientists
• Demonstrated