Principal Scientist, Serology
At GSK, we have bold ambitions for patients, aiming to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade. R&D is committed to discovering and delivering transformational vaccines and medicines to prevent and change the course of disease.
We believe the Greater Boston area is an important hub for the biotech and pharma industry, which is why we've invested in growing our footprint and expanding our R&D space in Cambridge, with a primary focus on additional state-of-the-art lab space. Here, we will bring together talent and expertise, building upon GSK's long history of vaccine development, to create globally leading viral capabilities and cutting-edge vaccines technologies, as we add to our robust portfolio targeting infectious diseases at every stage of life.
This is a Principal Scientist position in the Serology and Assay Development team in Viral Vaccines. You will lead the development and execution of serological assays to be used for the evaluation of vaccine candidates and therapeutics. You will bring significant knowledge of immunology and virology, and strong experience in executing biological assays, which provide critical information to enable strategic decision making by the project teams.
We are looking for a highly motivated, innovative scientist with experience in multiple ligand binding formats, neutralizations, and Fc effector function assays who is willing to go the extra mile to contribute to multiple projects and help develop vaccine candidates and therapeutics through preclinical development.
Key Responsibilities:
- Be a key contributor across a large team of scientists at multiple levels, day-to-day leader in the lab, and excellent communicator.
- Development, validation and execution of serology-related assays to assess B cell and antibody responses.
- Plan and execute multiple ligand binding assay formats including ELISA, Luminex, MSD, Gyros, and AlphaLISA, and neutralization assays.
- Develop and execute cell-based assays including viral neutralization assays, Fc receptor activation assays, ADCC, and ADCP.
- Provide serological expertise to GSK vaccine projects.
- Analyse and interpret experimental data and document results in electronic notebooks in a detailed and concise manner.
- Write detailed protocols, procedures and work instructions to support immunology assays.
- Write specific technical sections of internal and external reports and contribute to scientific papers and patents.
- Author technical reports for regulatory filings.
- Reporting of results in team meetings and cross-function and cross-department meetings.
- Highly organized, able to keep track of key project-related deadlines.
- Able to multi-task and contribute to multiple projects.
- Contribute to the maintenance of a clean and safe workplace.
The candidate is also expected to spend time travelling (for 2 to 3 months) to Rockville, MD (Washington DC area) within the first year to support and ensure a smooth transition of the methods and the knowhow to the new laboratories in Cambridge.
Basic Qualifications:
- Degree in Immunology, Virology, Microbiology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or related scientific field.
- PhD with 4+ years of postdoctoral experience or industry experience, MS with 8+ years of industry experience, or BS with 10+ years of lab experience.
- 3+ years of experience with ELISA, Luminex, or MSD and/or cell-based assays including viral neutralization assays, Fc receptor activation assays, ADCC, and ADCP.
- One or more years of experience in training multiple scientists or staff in assays and lab techniques.
Preferred Qualifications:
- 3+ years of assay development experience.
- Prior experience in systems serology.
- Strong track-record of scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals or other demonstrations of scientific success.
- Prior experience working in a matrix organization.
- Prior experience with the implementation of robotic systems to increase analytical efficiencies.
- Prior experience with the handling, treatment, and analysis of animal serum.
- Prior experience with the handling, treatment, and analysis of human biological samples (HBS) and knowledge of the HBS specific precautions.
- 3+ years of experience in developing analytical templates in SoftMax Pro, Prism and other analytical software.
- Deep knowledge of statistical analysis.
- Experience in qualification and/or validation of assays for regulatory filings.