Senior Scientist, Novel Therapeutics

About AbbVie

AbbVie's mission is to discover and deliver innovative medicines and solutions that solve serious health issues today and address the medical challenges of tomorrow. We strive to have a remarkable impact on people's lives across several key therapeutic areas including immunology, oncology and neuroscience - and products and services in our Allergan Aesthetics portfolio. For more information about AbbVie, please visit us at www.abbvie.co.uk. Follow @abbvie on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube. 

• Senior Scientist, Novel Therapeutics
• Oxford, United Kingdom
• Full-time (onsite)

About DJS AbbVie:

At DJS-AbbVie, we are committed to advancing new therapeutics and translating novel immunological science into innovative R&D programs. As a UK-based R&D hub within AbbVie Immunology, we combine the agility, scientific focus and entrepreneurial spirit of a specialist discovery team with the scale, resources and ambition of a global pharmaceutical company. To date we have discovered a number of immunological drug candidates to date, and continue to grow our exciting portfolio.

About the role:

This will be a senior laboratory role in the Novel Therapeutics team within AbbVie Immunology Discovery Research based in Oxford. The role will cover the investigation of mechanistic biology, pharmacology and target selection in the context of discovering and developing novel immunological therapies for immunological diseases.  The successful candidate will be responsible for building in vitro assay systems and using them to ask key questions to drive target validation, lead selection, and ultimately inform go/no-go decisions. By gaining insights into the mechanism of action of new drug candidates they will also inform disease positioning, dose selection and clinical biomarker validation. To deliver all this, the role will require close liaison with colleagues in the Immuno-biology team here in Oxford, working with them to identify the most appropriate assay systems for use in Novel Therapeutics, and sharing insights into target biology to support their work identifying new targets for new discovery programs.

The successful applicant should have a track record of immunology or immunology focused drug discovery research in industry or academia. They will be an experimentalist, skilled at interpreting insights from the literature and translating them into actionable experiments. Day-to-day, they will work collaboratively in project teams across different stages of the R&D process. They should be keen to get involved with all aspects of research at DJS. This will necessitate clear communication and excellent time management. Alongside organisational skills, however, they must enjoy adapting to changing priorities in a fast-paced environment.

At DJS, we want to foster innovative scientists performing drug-discover led by cutting-edge science. In this role the successful candidate will play a vital part in advancing first-in-class therapeutics with the potential to make a remarkable impact on the lives of patients with immunological disease. They will work on programs from early to late stage (including clinical stage) and develop working knowledge of target selection, validation, pharmacology, molecule design and clinical-enabling formal preclinical work. They will have to space to independently develop strategically-aligned research questions, develop assay and model systems, and design and deliver experimental programs. As such this role will bring many career development opportunities. These are extended further by our unique position within AbbVie, which allows access into a much broader, world-leading drug development pipeline and learnings about broader pharmaceutical business.

 

Successful applicant's key responsibilities

• Bringing energy, enthusiasm and positivity to the company
• Engaging with the literature to build deep understanding of target biology
• Establish and implement in vitro experimental models for assessing antibody pharmacology and mode of action
• Perform critical laboratory experiments and analysis to develop and extend existing methodologies
• Mentor junior scientists from the benchside in new and novel immunological techniques and methodologies
• Keeping up-to-date with latest developments in immunology by reading literature and attending conferences
• Contribute ideas and suggestions to all DJS programs
• Gather, analyse and present data from a variety of sources to the wider team and organization
• Critical and impartial review of self- and peer-generated laboratory data to create tangible actions
• Maintenance of laboratory experimental records

Applicant’s required attributes

• A PhD in Immunology or a related field or equivalent level of experience
• Have a passion for immunology and translational biology
• Enthusiasm and commitment to drug development research
• Willingness to work with human tissue samples under an HTA
• Proven expertise and experience in:
  • Establishing in vitro models for inflammatory disorders
  • Secondary ex vivo cell-based assays (such as, for example, FACS/cell sorting, imaging, ELISA/MSD, Western-blot and omics-based approaches such as RNA-seq)
  • Statistical analysis, power calculations and experimental design
  • Establishing translational primary cell assays and developing them for reproducible high throughput screening

Applicants desirable characteristics

• Working with preclinical models for therapeutic antibody development
• Have previously held a UK PIL licence (or equivalent) with experience in executing in vivo studies in pre-clinical models
• Building and maintaining collaborative networks across multiple organizations
• Working within an industrial setting on a drug development program
• Working with organoids or organ on a chip models
• Working with contract research organisations
• Antibody binding techniques; ELISA, FACS, SPR etc.
• Evidence of excellent organizational and interpersonal skills including:
  • work both independently and as part of a team
  • Ability to work efficiently with strong attention to detail
  • Ability to build effective working relationships within large organizations and across different time zones
  • Ability to work flexible hours when required
  • Proven written and oral communicative ability
  • Problem-solving skills
• Flexible and adaptable with an all-inclusive goal-orientated mindset
• Working under a Human Tissue Authority license

Please note, we are hiring for multiple positions. The final level and grade of this role may be adjusted based on the skills and experience of the successful candidate.

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