Apertor Pharmaceuticals Inc. was founded in November 2020 and will bring new immunotherapies to patients by engineering molecular glues using synthetic biology. Our principal offices are in Alameda, CA.
Apertor Pharmaceuticals is seeking a Scientist II/III to assist in designing, optimizing, and conducting immunological and cell-based assays for functional testing of natural product drug leads. These challenging projects will require broad assay development experience encompassing cell-based functional assays. You will be expected to be proactive about getting input from colleagues to identify needs and provide scientific input into assay selection.
The successful candidate will be the point person in Assay Development and responsible for conducting the experiments to validate the targets. She/He will design and execute experiments to validate molecular-glue targets for various tumor immunology/inflammation prioritized indications. The candidate will work in a matrixed environment and collaborate extensively with multidisciplinary groups to meet goals.
Primary Responsibilities
- Responsible for immunological and other cell-based functional assay design and development, data generation/analysis/interpretation and organizing findings into presentations to communicate results to project teams to enable GO/NO GO decisions in timely fashion.
- Uses a high level of scientific judgement to adapt and/or create standard methods and techniques by applying breadth of knowledge and prior work experience.
- Explore novel experimental approaches. Routinely investigates/creates innovative processes, hypotheses, and methodologies.
- Provide scientific expertise to the project team and provide critical path assessments.
- Maintain a balance for assay rigor and resources.
- Careful documentation of experimental details, data, and findings
Required Qualifications
- Scientist II: Ph.D + postdoc and/or industry (1-2 yr)
- Scientist III: Ph.D + postdoc and/or industry (2-5 yr)
- Candidates should be from Immunology, Cell Biology, Pharmacology, or any other related discipline in the life sciences. At least 2 yr in assay development within the biotechnology or pharmaceutical industry is preferred.
- Strong understanding of immunology and cell biology and application to designing, optimizing and conducting cell-based cytokine/protein expression and phosphorylation assays (e.g. multi-plex analysis, flow cytometry).
- Proficiency using multi-color flow cytometry for immune cell phenotyping.
- Experience in handling primary immune and non-immune cells (endothelial, epithelial and stromal cells) for in vitro functional assays.
- Leading edge knowledge of immune signaling and regulations including inhibitory/stimulatory pathways, T/B or innate immunity.
- Relevant knowledge in the cancer immunotherapy and autoimmunity/inflammation-related disease areas.
- Flexibility to adopt to rapidly changing priorities and deadlines in a dynamic, fast paced biotech environment.
- Excellent communication skills – can communicate effectively in a dynamic and cross-disciplinary environment.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience working with qPCR, Western blots, single-cell and bulk RNAseq
- Experience in in vivo models and animal tissue handling for immunophenotyping and ex vivo functional assays.
Please keep in mind that the salary range posted represents the pay range for all positions in the job grade within which this position falls. The actual salary offer will take into account a wide range of factors, including applicable years of experience and location.