Advisor / Senior Advisor, CNS/PNS NAMs – Investigative Toxicology

Lilly • Indianapolis, IN

8d • $126,000 - $204,600 • Onsite

About The Position

We are seeking a highly motivated and innovative scientist to join the New Approach Methodologies (NAMs)/Complex In Vitro Models (CIVMs) pillar within Lilly’s Investigative Toxicology group. This individual contributor, primarily laboratory-based role sits within an integrated group where in vitro and in vivo safety science are united under a single leadership, enabling seamless translational science across the drug discovery continuum.
The successful candidate will serve as the primary scientific contributor to Lilly’s CNS/PNS safety NAMs capability - designing, qualifying, and applying advanced human-relevant in vitro models to detect, characterize, and mechanistically understand compound-induced liabilities across the central nervous system (CNS), peripheral nervous system (PNS), and blood-brain barrier (BBB). Liabilities of primary interest include neurotoxicity (excitotoxicity, neuroinflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction), seizurogenic and network activity perturbation, demyelination, peripheral neuropathy/axonopathy, and BBB integrity disruption. The role demands scientific depth in neural biology, a mechanistic attitude toward safety translation, and the drive to advance neuronal CIVM science both internally and externally.

Requirements

• PhD in Neuroscience, Neurotoxicology, Pharmacology, Biomedical Engineering, Cell Biology, or a closely related discipline.
• Advisor: PhD with 2+ years of postdoctoral or industry research experience with direct hands-on work in advanced neural in vitro models.
• Senior Advisor: PhD with 5+ years of postdoctoral or industry research experience with a demonstrated track record of independent scientific contribution, model qualification, and leadership.
• Direct, hands-on experience with at least one of the following: (1) iPSC-derived neural cell model development/optimization (neurons, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, or mixed co-cultures) applied to liability or mechanistic safety questions; (2) MEA/FLIPR-based functional neurotoxicity or seizurogenic liability assessment; (3) in vitro BBB model development used to characterize barrier disruption or neuroinflammatory liabilities; or (4) 3D brain organoid/assembloid systems for compound-induced injury profiling.
• Experience independently design and execute rigorous experiments, manage concurrent projects, and prioritize under drug discovery timelines.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with transcriptomic profiling and/or high-content imaging to define mechanism-of-injury signatures in CNS/PNS models and support human translational risk interpretation.
• Strong written and oral communication skills, evidenced by peer-reviewed publications and/or conference presentations.
• Ability to operate effectively in a matrixed, cross-functional drug discovery team environment.
• Knowledge of oligonucleotide delivery platforms and their associated neurotoxicity liabilities is a plus.
• Experience with neuroinflammation models or microglial biology in a safety context is also a plus.
• Experience mentoring junior scientists or leading project-embedded scientific activities.

Responsibilities

• Develop, qualify, and apply advanced human-relevant in vitro models for CNS/PNS liability assessment, including iPSC-derived neurons and glial cells, co-culture systems, organoids/assembloids, dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neuron models, and BBB models to detect and characterize compound-induced neural injury across Lilly’s portfolio.
• Design and implement mechanistic investigations into compound-induced CNS/PNS liabilities including excitotoxicity, seizurogenic activity, demyelination, neuroinflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, axonopathy, and BBB integrity disruption.
• Implement functional MEAs and/or FLIPR calcium flux assays as primary liability readouts for seizurogenic potential, ion channel perturbation, and neural network activity disruption; qualify novel assays and endpoints that improve the sensitivity, specificity, throughput, and translational relevance of CNS/PNS liability screening.
• Develop deep scientific expertise in CNS/PNS liability science and serve as a key scientific resource for project teams by designing/performing in vitro follow-on investigations to understand mechanism of toxicity and species translatability.
• Collaborate with Lilly’s in silico ADMET Intelligence group to integrate computational CNS/PNS liability predictions with in vitro mechanistic data, contributing to coherent and tiered safety decision frameworks for project teams.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend platforms for adoption that meaningfully strengthen the human relevance of Lilly’s CNS/PNS safety science.
• Independently review primary literature to generate mechanistic hypotheses and design in vitro studies to test them.
• Serve as scientific point of contact for CRO and academic partners conducting CNS/PNS NAMs work on Lilly’s behalf, overseeing study design, data quality, and deliverable standards.
• Participate in pre-competitive consortia and industry working groups advancing CNS/PNS NAMs and early safety science.
• Publish peer-reviewed research and present findings at national and international scientific meetings.

Benefits

• company bonus (depending, in part, on company and individual performance)
• company-sponsored 401(k)
• pension
• vacation benefits
• medical, dental, vision and prescription drug benefits
• flexible benefits (e.g., healthcare and/or dependent day care flexible spending accounts)
• life insurance and death benefits
• certain time off and leave of absence benefits
• well-being benefits (e.g., employee assistance program, fitness benefits, and employee clubs and activities)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree