Associate Principal Scientist – Antibody Engineering and Novel Modalities, Biologics Engineerin[...]

We are seeking a motivated Associate Principal Scientist, with significant experience in antibody engineering and leading early drug discovery projects, to support our therapeutic discovery pipeline through the innovative use of AstraZeneca’s world class antibody discovery technologies.

ABOUT ASTRAZENECA

AstraZeneca is a global, science-led, patient-focused biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the discovery, development and commercialisation of prescription medicines for some of the world’s most serious diseases. But we’re more than one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies.

SITE DESCRIPTION

The DISC, our newly built building that will bring together the company’s research and development activity in a groundbreaking R&D centre and headquarters. The building has been crafted with the architecture reflecting AstraZeneca’s approach to research. Laboratories and glass walls will enable new ways of working across teams, whilst a courtyard will put science on full display.

BUSINESS AREA

The Biologics Engineering team is responsible for the discovery and optimisation of biological candidate drugs to support all therapy area drug discovery pipelines and for the development of in-house biologics discovery platforms and novel drug modalities to support future drug discovery efforts.

What you’ll do

You will be expected to drive biologics drug delivery from early discovery through to candidate drug nomination, working collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams of passionate, and likeminded scientists. They will be a well-organized and a highly productive scientist with a proven ability to lead and deliver experimental strategies. The role will entail project leadership for large molecule-based (antibodies, sdAb, peptide, etc.) projects in AZ’s Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolic (CVRM) portfolio with an emphasis on managing and innovating projects in the pipeline and pre-project target validation/target identification (TI/TV) space, to deliver optimised biologics drug candidates to the pipeline. The successful candidate will be part of a multi-disciplinary team, and successfully interact with other departments to deliver innovation and project delivery.

Essential for the role

1. PhD with proven experience or BSc/higher degree with extensive experience of antibody and protein engineering.

2. Extensive expertise in early drug project leadership for large molecules – lead isolation planning, resourcing, leading a cross-functional project team, mitigation planning, risk management.

3. Deep knowledge of a wide range of large molecule modalities – mAb, Bi/Multispecifics, VH, VHH, etc.

4. Ability to design and run antibody isolation and fit-for-purpose antibody optimisation campaigns.

5. Have a proven and practical understanding of the relationship between an antibody’s primary sequence and how this relates to its biological and bio-physical properties (genotype/phenotype).

6. Strong practical experience of molecular biology methods and technologies (PCR, RT-PCR, cloning (ligation-dependent and independent methods), site-directed mutagenesis, sequence analysis), ideally applied to the generation of antibody fragment (or other protein scaffold) libraries.

7. Ability to interpret multiple large data sets and troubleshoot experimental results/data and maintain accurate, high quality and up-to-date experimental records.

8. Strong problem solving, organizational skills, risk management and orientation to details.

9. Strong written and verbal communication skills, demonstrated both internally and externally, and an ability to learn and quickly embrace new technologies.

Desirable for the role

1. Practical experience of bioinformatics software platforms such as Geneious Prime.

2. Experience with NGS, computational methods and machine learning applied to antibody design and optimisation.

3. Experience working with non-standard antibody conjugates – ADCs, mAb-peptide conjugates, etc.

Why AstraZeneca

At AstraZeneca, we are more than one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies. We are pioneers who make ambitious moves that transform the way cancer is treated and truly improve patient outcomes.

So, what’s next?

Ready to make a difference? Apply today and join us in our mission to eliminate cancer as a cause of death!

Competitive salary package and benefits.

Close Date: 10/07/2024

Date Posted: 26-Jun-2024

Closing Date: 10-Jul-2024

Our mission is to build an inclusive and equitable environment. We want people to feel they belong at AstraZeneca and Alexion, starting with our recruitment process. We welcome and consider applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of characteristics. We offer reasonable adjustments/accommodations to help all candidates to perform at their best. If you have a need for any adjustments/accommodations, please complete the section in the application form.

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