Make your mark for patients The
Gene Therapy Vector Core group is seeking a
Scientist II in
Upstream Process Development and Bioprocess Analytics team to support genetic medicine projects and AAV gene therapy platform development. The candidate will work across functional teams and will be responsible for developing analytical methods including short- and long-read NGS, cell-based potency assays for AAV, and ddPCR assay development. Additional responsibilities include supporting routine testing for characterization of research grade materials and for guiding process development activities.
Responsibilities:- Leading the development and execution of custom molecular assays including ddPCR and qPCR to support gene therapy analytics
- Optimizing and applying cutting-edge next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies to characterize impurities and assess heterogeneity in AAV drug products
- Utilizing strong biology foundations to help guide or run cell-based potency assays to evaluate biological function and activity
- Support gene therapy platform development through the application of evolving analytical methodologies and cross-team collaborations activities; including capsid engineering
- Function independently and cross functionally across various UCB teams (data scientists, cell biologists, disease area experts, CMC professionals, etc.)
- Ability to manage priorities, engage/communicate in a multidisciplinary environment, and provide exemplary documentation of experimental work
Required Education, Skills and
Experience:
- MS degree in Molecular Biology, or related field, with over 10 years of experience - OR - PhD or Post Doc with 2+ years of experience.
- 4+ years expertise in PCR based assay development and molecular characterization of AAVs or biomolecular characterization for gene therapies
- 4+ years of NGS (long and/or short read technology) development experience (genomic DNA, targeted amplicon, small RNA, and RNA-seq) to enable genomic and transcriptomic analyses for early drug discovery and drug substance analytics
- 4+ Experience in serving as a functional representative in multi-disciplinary drug discovery project teams
Preferred Education, Skills and
Experience:
- PhD in Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, or related field with direct AAV characterization experience supporting molecular analytics of AAV vectors
- 6+ years of experience in molecular analytical characterization of AAV vectors
- 6+ years of hands-on experience with NGS library preparation, Illumina and PacBio data acquisition and QC to support drug discovery activities
- At least 6 years of experience in drug discovery or development in a pre-clinical setting with a focus on molecular characterization, analytical method development, characterizing impurities and identifying biological complexities.
- Serve as the primary owner of developing, optimizing, and/or routinely conducting cell based potency assays to evaluate biological function and activity
Salary:- This position's reasonably anticipated base salary range is $99,200 to $130,200 per year. The actual salary offered will consider internal equity and may also vary depending on the candidate's region, job-related knowledge, skills and experience, among other factors.
Are you ready to 'go beyond' to create value and make your mark for patients? If this sounds like you, then we would love to hear from you!
At UCB, we've embraced a hybrid-first approach to work, bringing teams together in local hubs to foster collaborative curiosity. Unless explicitly stated in the description or precluded by the nature of the position, roles are hybrid with 40% of your time spent in the office.
