Scientist

AstraZeneca•Gaithersburg, MD

1d•Onsite

About The Position

AstraZeneca is seeking a skilled and highly motivated Scientist to enhance their High Throughput Production & Screening (HTPS) capabilities of biologics. The successful candidate will play a critical role in a dynamic group responsible for high-throughput cloning, expression & purification of antibody therapeutics on a microgram-to-milligram scale and be an advocate for utilizing various automation platforms. The selected individual will be a well-organized and a highly productive scientist that can design and execute experiments efficiently, as well as analyze, interpret and present data to multidisciplinary project teams. The Biologics Engineering (BE) group is responsible for the discovery and optimization of next generation biologics to create biological drug candidates for all key therapeutic areas such as oncology, respiratory and inflammation, cardiovascular, renal and metabolic diseases. We're constantly pushing the boundaries of science to deliver life-changing medicines to patients, with a passion for the development of in-house biologics discovery platforms and novel drug modalities to address unmet medical needs.

Requirements

Master's degree with hands-on experience in antibody engineering, cloning and expression, or protein characterization (e.g., UPLC, mass spectrometry) +1 YOE
Bachelor's degree with 4+ years of relevant industry or academic research experience
Expertise in protein purification techniques and in vitro analytical methods for protein characterization, including SEC, SDS-PAGE, HPLC, ELISA, and BLI.
Proven experience in the expression, purification, and comprehensive biochemical/biophysical characterization of various antibody formats (e.g., IgG, Fab, scFv, bispecifics).
Knowledge in optimizing and troubleshooting automation techniques, with hands-on experience designing automated workflows.
Ability to follow well established SOP’s, effectively plan and organize work activities and prioritize task completion to meet project deadlines.
Strong interpersonal and communication skills as well as the ability to work within teams.
Good written and verbal communication skills and effective presentation of complex scientific data to cross-functional and senior management.

Nice To Haves

Experience in tissue culture teftherchniques and protein characterization assays.
Experience working with multiple antibody formats, troubleshoot common downstream challenges such as low recovery, aggregation and purities.
Automation experience with liquid handlers, Green button Go and other platforms a plus.

Responsibilities

Collaborate and work with a diverse group of scientists across all therapeutic areas to ensure timely progress in research projects.
Execute high-throughput cloning, production and purification of protein therapeutics from mammalian expression systems using process automation and liquid handling robotics.
Collaborate with automation engineers to integrate liquid handling robotics and high-throughput analytics into production pipelines.
Biochemical, biophysical and functional profiling of antibodies and recombinant antibody fragments.
Ability to solve process development problems and implement improved procedures.