Senior Scientist, Protein Sciences

ROLE SUMMARY

As a Senior Scientist in the Structural, Analytical, and Molecular Sciences (SAMS) department, you will be at the center of our protein expression and purification operations and you’ll find that everything we do, every day, is in line with an unwavering commitment to quality. You will be responsible for expression construct design and purification from bacterial, insect, and mammalian cells, protein quality control, as well as the generation and screening of mutant libraries to generate tools to advance the Pfizer Portfolio of difficult targets including integral membrane proteins and their reconstitution in non-detergent formulations through both functional and binding based HitID screens.  With your deep knowledge of the discipline, you will be recognized as a technical expert and a scientific contributor who routinely partners with, and mentors junior colleagues within the department and across therapeutic areas.  You will be a key member of cross-functional teams partnering regularly with structural biologists, biophysicists, pharmacologists and medicinal chemists.  Your innovation and creativity in developing novel processes and new ideas will be frequently used to drive decision making impact across the portfolio and establish a world-leading Protein Sciences pipeline to serve a world-leading Drug Discovery pipeline.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Represent Protein Sciences at the project team level, helping to guide new targets from gene through screening and beyond.

• Troubleshoot scientific and technical challenges. Mentor more junior scientists to do the same.

• Design constructs for expression in bacterial, insect, and mammalian cells to produce high quality recombinant proteins, protein complexes, and RNA.

• Purify and characterize recombinant proteins to enable high throughput assays, biophysical assays, and structural efforts.

• Collaborate productively and effectively with colleagues within and beyond your discipline.

• Prepare internally reviewed technical reports, make oral presentations to scientists and management, and publish/patent externally.

 BASIC QUALIFICATIONS              

• PhD in Biochemistry, Structural Biology, or a related discipline with training in protein science with 1-2 years relevant experience in protein expression and purification; or M.S. with 7+ years of relevant experience including industry experience.

• Characterization of proteins by analytical and biophysical methods including aSEC, fSEC, DLS, DSF, SEC-MALS, and other methods to monitor conformation, oligomerization, and stability.

• Experience in expression construct design for high-yield protein production in bacterial, insect, and mammalian cells.

• Demonstrated ability to purify proteins ranging from protein domains to challenging large multi-subunit and protein complexes and integral membrane proteins.

• Experience in integral membrane protein reconstitution into polymer or protein nanodiscs.

• Experience using Akta purification systems.

• Strong hands-on understanding of protein chemistry and protein analytics, including the recent scientific literature.

• Demonstrated ability to obtain results and drive innovative research programs independently.

• Self-motivated, organized, and capable of working independently and in a collaborative environment.

• Strong oral and written communication skills.

Nice-to-Have

• Ability to analyze and understand protein structures

• Phage, yeast, or mRNA library generation and display selection experience for generation of binding partners, or improvement of protein characteristics.

• Protein design using modern methods for conformational stabilization or de-novo tool generation

• Experience establishing binding approaches for small and large molecules.

• Scientific programming or data analysis skills

Other Job Details:

• Eligible for Relocation Package

• Eligible for Employee Referral Bonus

PHYSICAL/MENTAL REQUIREMENTS

Sitting, standing, lifting, bending, and walking.  Ability to perform practical laboratory bench work and work on a computer (while standing or sitting).  Ability to perform mathematical calculations and interpret data.

NON-STANDARD WORK SCHEDULE, TRAVEL OR ENVIRONMENT REQUIREMENTS

Minimal, if any travel related to this position.  Candidate may periodically be asked to travel