We are seeking a talented individual to provide scientific & technical leadership in biophysical and biochemical assay approaches to support the elucidation of structural mechanisms of protein function and interaction with other biomolecules & synthetic ligands. The ideal candidate will have previous hands-on experience in acquiring, analyzing & interpreting complex kinetic data from various biophysical techniques. The successful candidate will report to the head of Biology Technologies and will partner with colleagues in structural biology, chemistry and external collaborators to advance a diverse portfolio of targets.

Responsibilities:    

• Develop and execute label-free biophysical and biochemical assays to enable characterization of molecular interactions between proteins, ligands, DNA & other biomolecules
• Collaborate with structural biologists and assay developers to define protein construct strategies and implement reagent generation plans
• Characterize the affinity and kinetics of interactions between endogenous & synthetic ligands and their putative binding pockets on challenging drug targets, including membrane proteins and multiprotein complexes involved in signal transduction
• Elucidate molecular mechanisms of enzymes and their functionally-relevant interactions with substrates, co-factors & pharmacological modulators
• Conduct fragment screening campaigns and facilitate the rational design of therapeutic agents by advancing the understanding of structure-activity relationships of novel chemical series
• Maximize productivity and throughput by streamlining biophysical assay processes & workflows and by leveraging the capabilities of automated instrumentation and liquid-handlers
• Contribute to the optimization of an informatics system for registering biophysical data & results in internal databases
• Document accurate records of experimental procedures, results, data analysis & interpretation and present findings to cross-functional project teams and research leadership
• Maintain current knowledge of advances in biophysical & label-free techniques and contribute to the identification, evaluation & implementation of new enabling technologies and methodologies

Qualifications:

• PhD in biophysics, biochemistry or a related scientific discipline with 5+ years of impactful experience in the pharmaceutical / biotechnology industry
• Highly skilled in quantifying the affinity and kinetics of molecular interactions between proteins, ligands & biomolecules by SPR, ITC, MST, BLI
• Hands-on experience in operating and maintaining the performance of biophysical assay platforms from Cytiva (eg, Biacore T200, 8K+) or NanoTemper (eg, Dianthus, Monolith) or Sartorius (eg, Octet)
• Expertise in assessing aggregation, sizing and thermal stability of proteins expressed by a variety of mammalian & non-mammalian systems and an understanding of the development of fluorescence-based binding assays for profiling small molecules
• Well-versed in experiment design with ability to analyze and interpret complex kinetic and mechanistic data
• Strong background in molecular biology with experience purifying native or recombinant proteins of interest, including membrane proteins and multiprotein complexes
• Highly-organized and productive with excellent analytical, problem-solving & communication skills coupled with an ability to work collaboratively with colleagues in multiple disciplines including structural biology and chemistry