Biologist - Cell Biologist – Neurodegeneration

At Lilly, we unite caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. We are a global healthcare leader headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Our employees around the world work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to our communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. We give our best effort to our work, and we put people first. We’re looking for people who are determined to make life better for people around the world.

Organization Overview:

Eli Lilly has a proud record of drug discovery and development for Alzheimer’s Disease with a highly competitive portfolio of industry leading assets.  We are now seeking highly motivated scientists to join the Neurodegeneration team to facilitate its mission of discovering novel medicines for the treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other related neurodegenerative conditions.   

The Research Scientist will join the Boston Neurodegeneration group, which is part of the larger Lilly Neuroscience division. The ideal candidate is someone with a strong knowledge of disease mechanisms and cellular model systems for ALS. This role involves developing cellular models of ALS, employing induced-pluripotent stem cell (iPSc)-derived motor neurons or other cell lines, and using these models to assess potential therapeutic strategies and for profiling molecules with the goal of discovering novel treatments for ALS and potentially other neurodegenerative diseases. This is an exciting opportunity for a scientist who wants to develop their career in industry and make an impact on Lilly’s effort to discover new treatments for patients.

Responsibilities:

• Support projects developing novel therapeutic approaches for ALS focussing on TDP-43 biology.
• Develop, optimize, and implement cellular models of TDP-43 function and dysfunction as related to ALS.
• Culture and differentiation of human and patient iPSCs into motor neurons.
• Performing cellular assays suitable for high content imaging, including image analysis and measurement of biochemical or functional parameters.
• Genetic manipulation, including overexpression or knockdown of targets under investigation.
• Phenotypic characterisation of cells to identify and understand disease relevant pathways.
• Collaborate effectively with internal colleagues as part of a team to ensure effective progress of projects.
• Provide timely written and oral communication of work in lab reports and team meetings and more broadly to internal and external collaborators.
• Accurate recording of all practical work: completion of electronic lab notebook to Lilly procedure quality standards.
• Maintaining a tidy and efficient laboratory environment and ensuring health and safety standards are met.

Basic Requirements:  

• Masters Degree in neuroscience, cell biology, stem cell biology, biochemistry or a related scientific discipline with 1+ years of work experience, or a Bachelors degree in scientific discipline with 2+ years of work experience.

Additional Preferences:  

• Solid background in neurodegenerative disease biology.
• Expertise in cell culture (including iPSC), characterization, banking, and differentiation into motor neurons.
• Strong lab skills in basic molecular biology (gel electrophoresis, Western blotting, RT-PCR, ELISA, etc), genetic manipulation (viral overexpression, target knockdown, or CRISPR editing).
• Sound knowledge of experimental design and statistics for biology experimental work.
• Understanding of biology lab safety requirements.
• Experience if high-content imaging, and image analysis.
• Ability to analyze, interpret and troubleshoot cell-based and biochemical assays.
• Capable of independently designing experiments, generating data, interpreting results, and documenting work.
• Strong organization skills, good t