Scientist - Protein Chemistry

The Opportunity: Scientist, Protein Biochemist

We are seeking an experienced and creative protein biochemist to support our in-house protein chemistry team within the Structural Biology group. They will be responsible for purifying and characterizing small molecule protein targets to support screening pipelines, biophysical studies and structural biology. The ideal candidate will have a strong track record of leveraging internal and external resources to produce high quality proteins of therapeutic interest to support downstream in vitro assays and structural biology efforts. This role will report to the principal scientist leading protein chemistry and will have responsibility and visibility across the early discovery pipeline. This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced individual looking to work in a fast-paced, dynamic biotech environment. The candidate will have a range of responsibilities detailed below.

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  Expertise in all steps of the gene-to-protein process. Experienced in generation of high-quality recombinant proteins that are well characterized using biophysical and biochemical techniques.
  
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  Perform expression, purification (with and without affinity tags), and characterization of challenging targets to establish robust protocols that can be used internally or transferred to external (CRO) resources as needed. Ability to evaluate and establish protocols transferred in from external resources.
  
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  Develop robust and reproducible biochemical and biophysical assays to characterize enzymatic activity, protein stability, protein-protein interaction, etc.
  
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  Support protein chemistry by exploring new technologies, contribute to long-term activity planning and budgets, and maintaining modern instrumentation in the laboratory.
  

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  Communicate experimental design, results and timelines to cross-functional teams
  

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  Generate high-quality, reproducible data. Analyze and interpret data, keep organized and detailed records. Communicate findings to cross functional team members.
  
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  Partner and integrate with multidisciplinary, highly collaborative discovery teams to design, optimize, and produce reagents that play a critical role in structure-based drug design and screening
  

Required Skills, Experience and Education:

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  Ph.D. degree, MS +5, BS +7 years experience (or equivalent) in biochemistry, structural biology or related discipline, biopharmaceutical experience is a plus.
  
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  Expertise with expression of proteins and protein complexes using multiple host systems (e.g. mammalian, insect, bacterial).
  

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  Expert in designing, and optimizing DNA constructs for expression and purification of challenging targets.
  
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  Expert in protein purification using AKTA and multiple chromatography techniques (e.g. affinity, IEX, SEC, HIC).
  

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  Extensive protein biochemistry experience working with challenging proteins and multi-protein complexes.
  
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  Knowledge of protein structure and experience in the preparation of high-quality protein samples for assay (e.g. BLI, SPR, DEL, TR-FRET) biophysical (e.g. ITC, DSF, MALS, SLS, DLS, CD, anSEC, thermal melt, LC-MS) and structural studies (e.g. NMR, X-ray crystallography, Cryo-EM).
  
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  Creative and capable of developing new techniques and methods to drive science forward.
  
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  Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
  
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  Ability to develop and optimize written protocols and document research progress.
  
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  Conscientious team-player interested in a fast-paced biotech environment.
  
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  Demonstrated willingness to learn and improve processes.
  

Preferred Skills:

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  Experience with mass spectrometry and sample preparation is desired.
  
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  Experience balancing CRO and internal resources to solve problems and drive progress is beneficial.
  

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  Clear examples of establishing new technologies to increase throughput in protein expression/purification.
  
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  Demonstrated collaborations with Structural Biology and/or Assay groups through publications and/or patents.
  
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  Experience with protein-protein complexes including antibodies/Fabs, molecular glues, PROTACs, etc. highly desirable.