Senior Scientist I, In Vitro Electrophysiologist

AbbVie•North Chicago, IL

18h

About The Position

AbbVie's mission is to discover and deliver innovative medicines and solutions that solve serious health issues today and address the medical challenges of tomorrow. We strive to have a remarkable impact on people's lives across several key therapeutic areas including immunology, oncology and neuroscience - and products and services in our Allergan Aesthetics portfolio. We are seeking a highly motivated in vitro electrophysiologist to join our collaborative Migraine and Pain drug discovery team. The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in ion channel biology and patch-clamp electrophysiology to support functional, pharmacological, and mechanistic studies that advance novel therapeutics.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree and 10 years of experience, Master’s Degree and 8 years of experience, PhD and no experience necessary in Neuroscience, Biology, or related field.
Demonstrated proficiency in manual patch-clamp electrophysiology across multiple recording configurations (e.g. whole-cell, cell-attached, perforated-patch, single-channel) and ion channel pharmacology.
Proficiency with electrophysiology data acquisition and analysis software (e.g., Axon, HEKA, or equivalent).
Strong quantitative skills in biophysical analysis: concentration-response curves, channel gating kinetics, and state-dependent pharmacology.
Experience working with heterologous expression systems (e.g. HEK293 or CHO) and/or primary neurons, DRG neurons, or hiPSC-derived neuronal/sensory neuron preparations.
Ability to work in a highly collaborative, fast-paced scientific environment towards a common goal of advancing novel therapeutics to impact patients.
Communicates scientific findings clearly and effectively, both in writing and verbally.
Independent, flexible thinker with capacity to develop novel methodologies and apply emerging technologies to address key gaps.
Strategic thinking that connects experimental approaches with broader program objectives.
Applies quantitative and analytical thinking to complex biological problems.
Builds strong relationships with peers and actively contributes to a positive, inclusive, and collaborative working environment.

Nice To Haves

Experience with automated patch-clamp platforms (e.g., SyncroPatch or Qube) is highly valued.
Background in Neuroscience or pain/migraine.
Experience with ex vivo slice electrophysiology, multi-electrode array (MEA) recordings, or single channel recordings.

Responsibilities

Design and execute manual patch-clamp electrophysiology experiments to characterize ion channel pharmacology, biophysical properties, and cellular excitability in relevant cell and disease models including primary, hiPSC-derived, and recombinant cell lines.
Lead design, execution, and analysis of studies on automated patch-clamp platforms (e.g. SyncroPatch). This will include both operation and training/guidance of more junior scientists on the instrument.
Contribute to studies utilizing multi-electrode (MEA) recordings and complimentary fluorescence-based assays (e.g. calcium imaging, membrane potential assays) as needed.
Support target identification, validation, and compound profiling to advance our Neuroscience pipeline, with a focus on pain-relevant ion channel families including both voltage-and ligand-gated channels.
Apply broad cell and molecular biology skills to support mechanistic studies and complement electrophysiology-based work (e.g., cell culture, Western blot, Microscopy, transient transfection, RNAi approaches, etc).
Read and adapt scientific literature to stay current in the field and advance techniques and innovative approaches.
Independently generate precise, reliable, and reproducible data in a timely manner; interpret and effectively communicate results to cross-functional project teams and diverse audiences.
Contribute to scientific publications and present findings at internal and external scientific meetings and conferences.