Senior Scientist, Autoimmunology

Merck & Co. • Cambridge, MA

252d • Onsite

About The Position

Our company is a global health care leader with a diversified portfolio of prescription medicines, vaccines and animal health products. Today, we are building a new kind of healthcare company - one that is ready to help create a healthier future for all of us. Our ability to excel depends on the integrity, knowledge, imagination, skill, diversity and teamwork of an individual like you. To this end, we strive to create an environment of mutual respect, encouragement and teamwork. As part of our global team, you'll have the opportunity to collaborate with talented and dedicated colleagues while developing and expanding your career. The Early Discovery organization seeks an outstanding candidate to join our Immunology Discovery team at our company's Research Laboratories in Boston. You will work in a team and support early development of novel therapeutics for autoimmune disease indications. You will design and execute screens for target ID and validate novel immunology targets and advance them to small and large molecule drug discovery programs and clinical candidates. Your responsibilities will include the development and execution of experimental strategies to define biomarkers, mechanism of action and mechanism of resistance to therapeutic agents. You will perform in vitro and in vivo experiments to determine the functional effect of candidate target activation/inhibition by using a variety of assays to interrogate immune end-points. You will be expected to keep abreast of published scientific literature and present your data at internal group meetings.

Requirements

• PhD degree in biological sciences or related field.
• Experience in the area of Immunology.
• Expertise with multi-parameter flow cytometry.
• Experience developing in vitro and in vivo assays to investigate immune function.
• Deep knowledge of technologies commonly used to assess immune endpoints.
• Competence in standard scientific software used for data analysis (e.g. Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Graphpad Prism).
• Strong problem solving, statistical, and mathematical skills.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to present scientific data in group settings.
• Excellent organization and ability to multi-task and manage multiple projects.
• Ability to adapt to rapid changes in project priorities and meet aggressive timelines.
• Good data handling and recording skills.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in pharmaceutical drug discovery particularly using therapeutic antibodies or small molecules.
• Knowledge of bioinformatics.
• Experience in autoimmune indications and lymphocyte biology.

Responsibilities

• Support early development of novel therapeutics for autoimmune disease indications.
• Design and execute screens for target ID and validate novel immunology targets.
• Advance targets to small and large molecule drug discovery programs and clinical candidates.
• Develop and execute experimental strategies to define biomarkers, mechanism of action and mechanism of resistance to therapeutic agents.
• Perform in vitro and in vivo experiments to determine the functional effect of candidate target activation/inhibition.
• Use a variety of assays to interrogate immune end-points.
• Keep abreast of published scientific literature.
• Present data at internal group meetings.

Benefits

• Equal opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment.
• Prohibition of discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.
• Compliance with all affirmative action requirements for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.

What This Job Offers

• Industry: Chemical Manufacturing
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree