Scientist – Bacterial Vaccine Discovery

AstraZeneca • Gaithersburg, MD

8d • Hybrid

About The Position

We are seeking a highly motivated Scientist with a background in microbiology, immunology or a related field to join our dynamic Bacterial Vaccine Discovery group in early Infectious Disease. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to our mission of preventing serious bacterial infections. AstraZeneca is developing new and innovative vaccines against bacterial pathogens, while using various, novel platforms. As a Scientist, you will be a key player in supporting the target discovery, in vitro and in vivo testing of our vaccine candidates, while using your expertise in microbiology or immunology to establish and support assay systems and deliver datasets that will have direct impact on pipeline programs. We offer a unique and strong collaborative network as part of the AstraZeneca family, and leverage the broad array of technologies available in our organization.

Requirements

• Minimum of 2 years of experience in: Experience with culturing and working with bacteria and/or human cell lines.
• Experience with relevant immunological techniques to characterize the humoral immune response against infections or vaccines (western blot, ELISA, bacteria cell-based ELISA, Flow/surface staining)
• Experience with developing and executing assays to assess antibody function (opsonophagocytic killing assay, serum bactericidal assay, adhesion/invasion assay, toxin neutralization assay)
• Able to design and execute research plans, and to review, analyze, and interpret experimental results.
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to work with high regard to quality and safety.
• Able to draft, execute and record protocols and experiments in a timely manner and maintain an excellent laboratory notebook.
• Strong interpersonal, influencing, and collaboration skills.
• Experience in preparing written scientific reports and oral presentations.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with and willingness to perform mouse models (intraperitoneal, intranasal, intravenous injections, organ load studies) is a plus
• Bacterial manipulation experience (knock out, gain of function experiments, bacterial target purification) would be a plus

Responsibilities

• Develop, conduct and analyze in vitro and in vivo experiments to assess the functional immune response to novel bacterial vaccine candidates.
• Support the evaluation of different mechanisms of action and assess their contribution to in vivo protection.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues within the group and across the Bacterial Vaccine department to ensure the timely generation and dissemination of critical program data.
• Review emerging literature and internal data to help in identifying novel assays and models to assess vaccine efficacy and target validation.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: Associate degree