Research Associate - Biology - III K3J - 351

Description:

Specific Responsibilities:

Gilead seeks a highly motivated and collaborative scientist to support and drive research efforts to discover and develop novel therapies for the treatment of chronic metabolic and fibrotic diseases. The successful candidate will support discovery and translational research activities aimed at characterizing novel therapeutic targets and advancing clinical programs. The role is within an established group focused on fibrotic, metabolic and inflammatory diseases and will interface with multidisciplinary project teams. This position provides an exciting opportunity to have high-impact on the growth of new therapeutic areas within an established research group focused on developing drugs for diseases with serious, unmet medical needs.

The successful candidate will work in a project team-based research structure to lead or support biological investigation of new and established targets within Research. The candidate will be expected to identify key questions and design hypothesis-based experiments that support established programs moving into development, as well as identify and/or evaluate new targets in fibrotic diseases that complement our current portfolio. The position will require both good communication and managerial skills in order to interface effectively with other functional support groups (eg. medicinal chemistry, drug metabolism, formulations, high-throughput biology) to effectively develop new drugs. The successful candidate will participate as an engaged member of the highly interactive Biology department.

Specific responsibilities:

• Independently design/ develop, perform and manage experiments cell-based assays on cell lines and primary human cell cultures to support validation of novel therapeutics.

• Proactively troubleshoot technical issues and recommend potential corrective actions based on personal observations and literature searches.

• Presents results of work, interprets data, and draws conclusions regarding presented material and nature of work.

• Assess therapeutic potential and mechanism of action of new drugs by analysis of tissues and plasma from pre-clinical rodent models of fibrosis.

• Work with CROs to co-ordinate sample analysis

• Maintains familiarity with scientific literature and applies appropriately to research projects.

• Uses strong communication skills (both verbal and written) and interpersonal skills to communicate objectives and results.

Desired Knowledge, Experience and Skills:

• Master's degree with at least 2-4 years of experience or Bachelor's degree with 4-6 years of experience in pharmaceutical sciences, cell biology, molecular biology, or biochemistry.

• Technical expertise in performing cell-based assays using human/rodent primary cells or cell lines (ideally using stellate cells, fibroblasts and immune cells).

• Operational understanding of modern cell biology and pharmacology techniques including methods to evaluate cell signaling (western blot, immunoprecipitation), gene expression analysis, frozen/fresh tissue handing (homogenization, cell isolation), immunoassays (eg. ELISA, MSD, or Luminex, flow cytometry).

• Ability to troubleshoot and optimize assays as needed; identifying and applying novel techniques or protocols from reports in the scientific literature

• Hands on experience in rodent handling is a plus but not required

• Excellent communication skills (both verbal and technical) and organizational skills are required.

• Strong computer skills, including proficiency with basic data analysis programs (Excel, Graphpad Prism, etc.) and application of statistics.

Academic Level: Bachelors/ Masters