Scientist / Sr. Scientist, Translational Biology

Actym Therapeutics, Inc. is a Berkeley, CA based venture-backed biotechnology company focused on developing novel immunotherapies intended to transform the treatment of cancer. Patients burdened with metastatic disease desperately need new and effective treatment options. Actym's revolutionary microbial-based technology platform is designed to overcome the hostile tumor microenvironment and promote durable anti-tumor immunity. This technology allows for the safe, programmed delivery of multiplexed immunological payloads to tumor-resident immune cells after IV dosing, in a single therapeutic composition. This paves the way for safely targeting immunological pathways that are intractable using conventional small molecule or antibody-based therapeutics due to systemic toxicities, which are of significant interest to the biopharma community. Actym recently completed a significant venture financing backed by top tier investors, and has announced a lead therapeutic candidate for clinical development.

Our people are our greatest asset. They bring scientific talents in immunology, microbiology, molecular biology, protein engineering, cancer biology, gene editing, process development, pharmacology, and clinical development to make the future happen now.

Position Summary

Actym Therapeutics is seeking a highly motivated and independent, hands-on scientist to support our translational biomarker development efforts, reporting to the Executive Director of Translational and Clinical Sciences The scientist in this position will be responsible for leading biomarker efforts to support IND-enabling studies and must possess significant experience in designing and executing complex analysis of primary tissues including phenotypic and functional analyses of immune cells. The ideal candidate will be responsible for conducting in vitro and ex vivo immunology experiments, including various molecular and cellular immunoassays. This candidate is also a motivated immunologist or cell biologist with experience in cancer biology and/or microbiology. Furthermore, the ideal candidate possesses a strong desire and collaborative spirit, proactive, agile and motivated to contribute to the development of a novel mRNA and DNA delivery platform that brings benefit to patients across a range of disease areas in oncology and infectious diseases.

The position requires a strong drive to provide exceptional hands-on experimental therapeutic development, collaborate with internal colleagues and external contractors, and exceed in quality and timeline expectations. This position requires established expertise in cell culture, multi-color flow cytometry, and functional assays using primary human immune cells. This role requires excellent oral and written communication skills, demonstrated project management skills, the capacity to work independently and as part of a team, and the ability to contribute to multiple projects simultaneously.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Contribute to biomarker strategy and development, including planning and executing on actionable biomarker plans
• Lead project assay development and testing; analyze and present data
• Manage vendors and CRO relationships
• Develop and perform routine immune assays and assay optimization using human biological samples (serum, tissue, PBMC)
• Provide guidance and supervision to RAs
• Participate in cross-functional project teams

Requirements

• Excellent problem-solving skills, applying scientific methods to resolution
• Extensive background in human immunology and related assays, preferable cellular immunology
• Extensive experience in the isolation and characterization of primary human immune cells and tissues utilizing a wide range of immunological techniques to support functional analysis (proliferation, cytokine secretion, cell activation markers, cell activation marker analysis).
• Expertise in immune cell-based assays (e.g., luciferase/fluorescence gene reporters, cytokine assays, flow cytometry, proliferation, cellular differentiation, etc.)
• Advanced multi-parameter flow cytometry skills are required, including panel design and validation and the ability to design, execute, and interpret experiments examining immune cell subsets
• Self-motivated, ability to work in a fast-paced environment, and ability to adapt to changing priorities and to accept responsibilities outside of initial job description
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel and data analysis software (Familiarity with GraphPad Prism a plus)
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Availability for occasional weekend work

Education

• Ph.D. Immunology, Cell Biology, or Cancer Biology
• Minimum 2-5 years post-doctoral research experience in research and/or development environment. Industry experience is preferred

The Ideal Candidate Shares Actym's Core Values:

• Commitment: We are committed to bringing life-saving drugs to patients with cancer.
• Accountability: We are accountable to each other and accept responsibility for our actions.
• Quality: We are committed to the highest level of quality in our experiments, analyses, and communications with each other.
• Respectfulness. We are respectful of each other and the diverse backgrounds that we bring to the team.
• Decision making. Attuned to opportunity, we make intelligent decisions, adapting to create the best outcomes. We are decisive and undaunted by failure. We accept what doesn't work, learn from it, and get on to what does.
• Collaboration. We achieve our goals together, inspiring, sharing, and creating as a team.
• We do the right thing.

Work Environment

Work is performed in an office and laboratory environment. May be exposed to biological and chemical hazards. The employee is frequently required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel and reach with hands and arms. Light to moderate lifting and carrying objects with a maximum lift of 30lbs. Must be able to work while wearing personal protective equipment such as safety glasses, gloves, and lab coats deemed necessary to protect testing and to protect employees. Work is to be performed on site.

About Actym

Actym offers comprehensive benefits including 401K, and generous health care coverage with Medical, Dental, Vision plans.

Disclaimer This job description is not necessarily a comprehensive list of all duties and responsibilities. The employer reserves the right to revise key functions of this position at any time. Actym is an EEO/Affirmative Action Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status.

www.actymthera.com