Join Us

Over the next five years, the UW Institute for Protein Design hopes to advance 5-10 products from its own pipeline through pre-clinical proof of concept to pre-IND or IND stage assets. The goal of this role is to help advance this work. In this role, you will report to the Executive Director and work closely with the Baker, King, and Bhardwaj Labs. The ideal candidate would have advanced at least one asset through IND-enabling studies and be familiar with the stages of early product development for biologics and/or vaccines.

Product development is a complex interdisciplinary process and in this role, the successful individual would need to be able to interface with many aspects of the IPD including:

1. The IPD Member Labs and will be expected to build a close and productive relationships with the PIs and postdoctoral/graduate students.
2. The Core R&D Labs who serve as functional teams that can contribute to advancing candidates.
3. The project management team that is being developed to help steward products through development.
4. They will also be involved in helping to shape and develop the translational team and program within the IPD by working closely with IPD leadership and through mentoring the scientists in the cores and research labs where it is appropriate.
5. The IPD also has an entrepreneur training program for postdoctoral scientist (Translational Research Program) and the candidate would also be expected to help mentor those investigators in pre-clinical R&D.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Oversee translational programs within the IPD portfolio (50%)

• Identify translational opportunities within IPD research portfolio.
• Develop and manage timelines of translational program activities.

Manage translational activities thru strong collaboration with Core R&D and IPD member labs to ensure successful advancement of assets (10%)

Mentor for the Translational Research Program (20%)

• Mentor and supervise translational postdocs in research development.
• Advise on entrepreneurship and company formation opportunities.

Support documentation of translational activities for regulatory filings (10%)

• Prepare documentation for pre-clinical proof-of-concept up to pre-IND or IND filings.
• Assess and address regulatory considerations and compliance requirements.

Interact with industry and commercial partners working on translational programs (5%)

• Interface with business development efforts (NDAs, CDAs, term sheets).

Partner with CoMotion to manage complex IP portfolio (5%)

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

• Ph.D. in biochemistry, immunology, or other relevant field PLUS seven years of experience in a relevant field.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• The ideal candidate will have experience working both in an academic and biotech start up environment. They should have led programs at the Director or VP level in industry, and be able to function autonomously with minimal supervision.
• Experience with pre-clinical R&D and product development activities able to support regulatory filings.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• PhD, MD or equivalent higher-level degrees.
• Postdoctoral research experience in a relevant laboratory wet lab environment.
• Optional – expertise in overseeing or running relevant cores laboratories such as bioassays, protein or peptide production, in vivo animal core.

As part of the Biologics, Vaccines, and Process Development Core, you will lead and work within multiple project teams to generate, analyze, and report data with an emphasis on data quality and quick turnaround. These teams produce and study protein-based medicines, including vaccines. They also analyze data from in vivo trials, including antibody screening. Their work helps ensure that our most promising molecules and methods are ready for real-world application.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Passaging and Transfection (40%)

• Build upon existing protocols and SOPs to improve efficiency and adherence to aseptic technique at a group level.
• Develop additional protocols and SOPs, with an emphasis on documentation of cell viability, reagents used, and TC conditions for consistency and accuracy.
• Execute standard screens and develop custom transfection protocols for difficult targets.
• Be proactive in identifying and triaging complex problems and technical issues to generate long-term effective solutions.

Stable cell line and alternative host support (5%)

• Develop stable cell lines for key IPD programs to support scale-up production in a WAVE25 bioreactor.
• Cross-train and/or assist in elvaluating alternative hosts to support the generation of biologics and vaccines.

Documentation, Reporting, and Meetings (15%)

• Author protocols, reports, batch records, certificates of testing, and presentations detailing experimental work and summarizing results.
• Attend internal group and sub-group project meetings to present data, and discuss roadblocks.
• Attend meetings with external collaborators of the IPD.
• Quality assurance and control documentation.

LEADERSHIP AND CORE OPERATIONS

Training and mentoring (25%)

• Train BioVaxPD core team members in aseptic technique, passaging, transfection, nanoparticle assembly and characterization,  and equipment operation.
• Mentor staff in transfection optimization and screening, and  data analysis and Certificate of Testing preparation.

Procurement and Inventory Management (10%)

• Responsible for procuring, stocking and managing TC reagents and materials

Equipment Maintenance (5%)

• Implement maintenance protocols on core equipment to enhance reliability and availability.
• Collaborate and communicate with BioVaxPD core lead and lab management to facilitate instrument repairs and service contracts.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS*

• Bachelor’s Degree in biochemistry, molecular biology, or another relevant field PLUS 4 years of relevant experience, OR an equivalent combination of education and experience.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• The Research Scientist/Engineer 3 is expected to contribute to lab and TC room maintenance and be willing and able to travel to and work at two IPD sites (15-min walking distance) depending on the task. Cart transportation is occasionally available.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Previous experience or familiarity with molecular biology, aseptic technique, passaging, and  transient transfection.
• General knowledge of biochemistry and cell biology techniques and analytics.
  Hands-on experience or familiarity with basic construct design, gene ordering, sequence alignments, colonyPCR, maxipreps, etc.
• Hands-on experience working with and passaging Expi293 cell lines, using a Vicell to measure cell viability.
• Experience or familiarity with establishing passing and transfection schedules and routines.
• Hands-on experience writing and running methods to purifying proteins by IMAC, proA, HIC, IEX, SEC on  AKTA AVANT or AKTA Pure systems, packing custom columns for chromatography as necessary.
• Hands-on experience or familiarity with biophysical methods for protein characterization such as UV-Vis, Dynamic light scattering,  SDS-PAGE, MS, HPLC  Octet, ELISA, nSEM, and Western blot.
• Experience developing and authoring training materials and guides.
• Training and mentoring experience, or the desire to train and mentor junior staff through in-person instruction.
• Desire to learn and integrate existing workflows with vaccine development and QC pipelines.

As a member of our Core R&D Labs, you will make important research contributions that accelerate progress in protein design. These teams develop new research methods, collect experimental data, and help interpret results. These activities are performed in collaboration with other scientists at the Institute for Protein Design or its collaborators; they are not available for external contract work.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

(80%) – Work with other Core R&D Lab members to accomplish research goals, including by establishing and nurturing productive relationships with research colleagues, students, administrators, and others at the UW and beyond.

• Follow standard operating procedures and working guidelines.
• Optimization and development of Core-specific protocols in close scientific collaboration with postdoctoral researchers and graduate students.
• Document protocols run in the wet lab.
• Review, analyze, and troubleshoot all experimental results.
• Train IPD researchers on Core-specific workflow.
• Work directly with Principal Investigators, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and laboratory staff in assisting with and conducting experiments.

(10%) – Maintain databases and inventories; this includes:

• Prepare and maintain standard laboratory stocks and reagents.
• Maintain inventory for all chemicals, supplies, reagents, and biological samples.
• Maintain and troubleshoot laboratory equipment.
• Work with Laboratory Management to assist with EH&S compliance.

(5%) – Assist with managing undergraduate research assistants

(5%) – Present scientific data, attend meetings and team building events

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor’s Degree in Biochemistry, molecular biology, or any other relevant field + one year of relevant experience, OR Equivalent combination of education/experience.
• At least one year of full-time laboratory experience.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Strong communication and organization skills and great attention to detail.
• A willingness to acquire new skills and learn on the job.

This is an exclusively in-person laboratory position.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• 80% of effort will be dedicated to testing new designs in small scale (1mL-50mL), which entails cloning, expression, purification, and characterization.
• 20% of effort will be dedicated to the integration of our protein biochemistry pipeline with nanopore biophysics experiments.
• The RSA is expected to document and provide feedback as necessary on experiments and developmental processes.

REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor’s Degree in Molecular Biology/Biochemistry/Structural Biology/Cell Biology or related field PLUS less than one year of relevant experience, OR an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Previous hands-on experience or general familiarity with basic laboratory techniques, molecular biology, and protein characterization.
• General knowledge of biophysical techniques and biochemistry.
• RSA is expected to be able to travel to and work at two laboratory sites (15-min walking distance) depending on the task.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Previous lab-based experience with biophysical methods for protein characterization.

Our diverse teams rely on the excellent work of undergraduate students who provide laboratory support for the day-to-day functioning of our wet-lab environments. Although such support makes research possible, this paid position does not include opportunities to conduct research.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Dish washing
• Media/agar plate stocking
• Consumables stocking
• Inventory
• Autoclaving
• Sanitation/decontamination
• Daily mail and package processing
• General lab maintenance

Minimum Qualifications:

• Current UW undergraduate with an interest in biochemistry with at least one year left until graduation.
• Must be able to commit at least 12-15 hours per week depending on demands of the lab.
• Science major and completion/concurrent enrollment in intro bio series strongly preferred.

We offer flexible scheduling during the work week, Mondays through Fridays from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Weekend hours are available after 3-6 months on the job.

Educational Benefits:

This position will introduce you to laboratory research environments and basic microbiology techniques.

Learn more and apply →