Scientist - Protein Sciences & Antibody Discovery

The Role

This role will be focussed on applying and developing state of the art science to produce and characterise disease relevant targets. The Scientist will be responsible for developing methods and tools for producing challenging targets (e.g. integral membrane proteins, GPCRs and solute channels) for antibody discovery and target validation. You should have a keen interest in developing novel therapeutics for a broad range of human diseases and want to play a key part in the characterisation of emerging targets. The Scientist will be based at our laboratories at Whittlesford, work within the Research team, and report to the Associate Director, Antibody Discovery. The successful candidate will also work together with other scientific teams at Alchemab as part of the drug discovery process. It is a unique opportunity to broaden your experience within antibody discovery and help to evolve our platform technologies, as well as contribute to developing novel and transformational therapeutic antibodies.

Responsibilities

• Express and purify proteins for a range of downstream applications
• Develop and establish methods for the production of challenging proteins
• Generate reagents, cell lines and assays to functionally validate targets and the antibodies that bind to them
• Work collaboratively with the scientific teams, as well as with external research groups and partners
• Communicate efficiently, interpret and summarise data for presentation to different audiences
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date electronic laboratory notebook records
• Maintain assigned laboratory equipment and duties
• Perform all work demonstrating due care and attention to all health and safety and COSHH regulations, and Human Tissue Act records where required

Experience and Requirements

Essential

• Experience expressing, purifying and characterising challenging proteins (e.g. integral membrane proteins, GPCRs, solute channels and/or oligomeric proteins)
• Strong background in molecular biology and protein engineering applied to produce recombinant protein, cell-based assays, and/or display libraries
• Experience and capability of producing multiple proteins in parallel using eukaryotic systems eg HEK, CHO, insect cells
• Assay development – experience establishing binding/kinetics assays
• Attention to detail, ability to follow protocols, and a proactive approach to problem solving
• Ability to carry out multiple experiments in parallel while maintaining good communication of experimental results with team members
• Desire to increase technical knowledge in relevant fields through self-study, collaborative working and observation, and attending conferences or workshops

Desirable

• Experience producing nanodiscs or VLPs for antibody discovery or functional characterisation
• Experience with high-throughput expression of proteins e.g. routinely produce 10s-100s of constructs per batch
• Experience building and/or working with display technologies (phage/mammalian)
• Experience creating stable cell lines and/or cell-based reporter assays
• Experience with enzyme activity assays

Qualifications

• A PhD in a relevant scientific discipline or equivalent research experience, e.g. in industry

The Company

Alchemab has developed a highly differentiated platform which enables the identification of novel drug targets and therapeutics by analysis of patient antibody repertoires. The platform uses well-defined patient samples, deep B cell sequencing, and computational analysis to identify convergent protective antibody responses among individuals that are susceptible but resilient to specific diseases.

Alchemab is building a broad pipeline of protective therapeutics for hard-to-treat diseases, with an initial focus on neurodegenerative conditions and oncology. The highly specialized patient samples that power Alchemab’s platform are made available through valued partnerships and collaborations with patient representative groups, biobanks, industry partners, and academic institutions.

The company is based and headquartered in Cambridge, UK with the widely acclaimed Dr. Jane Osbourn leading the company as CEO.

NOTE: This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive. Employees may perform other related duties as negotiated to meet the ongoing needs of the organisation.

Note to recruitment agencies: we are not looking for assistance at this stage so please contact the HR department only at [email protected] if you think you can help in the future.