Senior Analyst- Molecular Pharmacology

Elanco•Indianapolis, IN

7d•Onsite

About The Position

At Elanco (NYSE: ELAN) – it all starts with animals! As a global leader in animal health, we are dedicated to innovation and delivering products and services to prevent and treat disease in farm animals and pets. At Elanco, we are driven by our vision of Food and Companionship Enriching Life and our purpose – all to Go Beyond for Animals, Customers, Society and Our People. At Elanco, we pride ourselves on fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment. We believe that diversity is the driving force behind innovation, creativity, and overall business success. Here, you’ll be part of a company that values and champions new ways of thinking, work with dynamic individuals, and acquire new skills and experiences that will propel your career to new heights. Making animals’ lives better makes life better – join our team today! Position Summary We are seeking an energetic, detail-oriented Senior Analyst to join our Molecular Pharmacology team within Research and Breakthrough Innovation at our Indianapolis global headquarters. In this hands-on laboratory role, you will integrate molecular biology techniques with tissue culture to establish new cell lines, maintain existing cell lines, and execute cell-based assays supporting discovery research programs. Working collaboratively, you will help generate and maintain new cell lines, and execute a variety of cellular assays (e.g., cell viability, reporter gene expression, pathway modulation, and cytotoxicity). This role is critical to delivering consistent, high-quality molecular and cellular pharmacology data that directly drives Elanco’s discovery pipeline milestones.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree (B.S.) in Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Pharmacology, or a related biological sciences field with 4+ years of hands-on laboratory experience; OR Master’s Degree (M.S.) in a related biological sciences field with 0–2 years of laboratory experience.
Demonstrated hands-on proficiency in routine molecular biology techniques (e.g., PCR/qPCR, DNA/RNA extraction, plasmid preparation, transfection/transformation).
Hands-on proficiency in aseptic technique, routine mammalian cell culture maintenance, and establishing/thawing new cell lines.
Practical experience executing multi-well plate cellular assays using microplate detection formats (luminescence, fluorescence, absorbance).
Proficiency with standard data analysis software (e.g., GraphPad Prism, Excel) and Electronic Lab Notebooks (ELN).
High attention to detail, laboratory organization, and consistency in experimental execution.
Ability to work collaboratively and communicate effectively within a multi-disciplinary research team.

Nice To Haves

Hands-on experience with stable cell line generation (e.g., lentiviral transduction, selection marker screening, or single-cell cloning).
Experience establishing or handling diverse cell types (e.g., adherent, suspension, reporter lines, or primary cell models).
Familiarity with basic cell-based assay troubleshooting and standard pharmacology/screening quality metrics
Strong communication and teamwork skills to collaborate across discovery project teams.

Responsibilities

Apply core molecular biology techniques (e.g., DNA/RNA isolation, PCR/RT-qPCR, gel electrophoresis, plasmid preparation, restriction digestion, transient transfection, or viral transduction) to support the generation, validation, and characterization of engineered cell lines and reporter systems.
Establish, expand, validate, and bank new mammalian cell lines from internal or external sources; optimize initial culture parameters and establish baseline growth conditions to support pharmacology workflows.
Execute established cell-based assays in 96-well and 384-well formats to measure biological and pharmacological activity, including cell proliferation, cytotoxicity, reporter gene readouts, and signaling pathway activation.
Process raw assay data using standard software tools (e.g., GraphPad Prism, Microsoft Excel), calculate concentration-response curves (IC50 / EC50), verify data quality, and summarize results for discovery project teams.
Accurately document experimental protocols, molecular designs, cell passage histories, and assay results within the Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) in compliance with company data standards.