Phage Display - Scientist/Senior Scientist

Gastrobody Therapeutics; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Founding team opportunity

High ownership and impact

Collaborative environment

Competitive salary and benefits

Job summary

Gastrobody Therapeutics in Cambridge is seeking an experienced phage/yeast display scientist to join the platform technology team. You will apply display technologies to generate, identify, and optimise protein binders against therapeutic targets to support our drug discovery programmes.

This role suits a scientist with strong expertise in phage/yeast/Mammalian display and protein engineering who thrives in a fast-paced startup environment.

Qualifications

• PhD in biology, biochemistry, molecular biology, protein engineering, or related discipline.
• At least 3 years of hands-on experience carrying out display campaigns.
• Theoretical and practical expertise in phage, yeast, and/or mammalian display technologies and selection methodologies.
• Experience working with antibody or protein display libraries.
• Strong and evidenced molecular biology & cloning proficiency.
• Experience in protein expression, purification, and biochemical and biophysical characterisation.
• Ability to work independently in a fast-moving startup environment.
• Have strong interpersonal skills and interact effectively with scientists across disciplines to generate timely and informative data.
• Experience in biophysical techniques (BLI and/or SPR, DSF and/or DSC).
• Experience with next-generation sequencing and sequence analysis workflows.
• Experience working in a biotech or start-up environment.
• Experience with high-throughput screening or automation platforms.
• 2+ years of experience post-PhD in academic, start-up, or industry

Responsibilities

• Employing display technologies to select and optimise protein binders against therapeutic targets, including library design.
• Designing and executing display selection campaigns using phage, yeast, or mammalian display platforms.
• Screening and validating hits using high-throughput assays including ELISA, Spy-BLI, and cell-based assays.
• Analysing and interpreting experimental data to support iterative optimisation of binder affinity, specificity, and developability.
• Subcloning plasmid constructs for protein expression and engineering.
• Performing protein expression, purification, and biophysical characterisation of engineered binders (BLI, SPR, DSF or DSC).
• Supporting library generation and affinity maturation workflows.
• Collaborating closely with multidisciplinary scientists across discovery, protein engineering, and computational biology teams.

Skills

Phage/yeast display experience

Display campaigns

High-throughput screening

Protein engineering

Cloning proficiency

Cell-based assays

Independent in startup

Team collaboration

Biophysical techniques familiarity

Education

PhD in biology/biochemistry/protein engineering or related

Tools

Phage display platforms

Yeast display platforms

Mammalian display platforms

ELISA

BLI/SPR/DSF/DSC instruments

Job description

About Us

Gastrobody Therapeutics is an early stage, University of Cambridge spin-out company developing ultrastable, orally-administered protein therapeutics to treat gastrointestinal tract diseases, including inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Our platform combines computational protein design, protein engineering, and experimental validation to create highly stable, functional therapeutic binders suitable for oral delivery. We are building a multidisciplinary team at the intersection of computational biology, protein engineering, and translational therapeutics.

The Role

We are seeking to expand our team with an experienced phage/yeast display scientist to join the platform technology team. The successful candidate will apply display technologies to generate, identify, and optimise protein binders against therapeutic targets to support and accelerate our drug discovery programmes.

This role is ideally suited to a scientist with strong expertise in phage/yeast display and protein engineering who is excited to work in a highly collaborative and fast-paced start-up environment. The candidate will contribute across multiple discovery-stage projects, helping to advance the development of next-generation orally administered biologics.

The candidate will work in a dynamic, project-focused environment, aiming to accelerate the development of life-changing medicines.

The role will include the following responsibilities

• Employing display technologies to select and optimise protein binders against therapeutic targets, including library design.
• Designing and executing display selection campaigns using phage, yeast, or mammalian display platforms.
• Screening and validating hits using high-throughput assays including ELISA, Spy-BLI, and cell-based assays.
• Analysing and interpreting experimental data to support iterative optimisation of binder affinity, specificity, and developability.
• Subcloning plasmid constructs for protein expression and engineering.
• Performing protein expression, purification, and biophysical characterisation of engineered binders (BLI, SPR, DSF or DSC).
• Supporting library generation and affinity maturation workflows.
• Collaborating closely with multidisciplinary scientists across discovery, protein engineering, and computational biology teams.

Requirements

• PhD in a relevant area of biology, biochemistry, molecular biology, protein engineering, or related discipline.
• At least 3 years of hands-on experience carrying out display campaigns.
• Theoretical and practical expertise in phage, yeast, and/or mammalian display technologies and selection methodologies.
• Experience working with antibody or protein display libraries.
• Strong and evidenced molecular biology & cloning proficiency.
• Experience in protein expression, purification, and biochemical and biophysical characterisation.
• Ability to work independently in a fast-moving startup environment.
• Have strong interpersonal skills and interact effectively with scientists across disciplines to generate timely and informative data.
• Experience in biophysical techniques (BLI and/or SPR, DSF and/or DSC).
• Experience with next-generation sequencing and sequence analysis workflows.
• Experience working in a biotech or start-up environment.
• Experience with high-throughput screening or automation platforms.
• 2+ years of experience post-PhD in academic, start-up, or industry

What We Offer

• Opportunity to join a founding scientific team tackling a major challenge in therapeutics
• High ownership and scientific impact
• Collaborative, interdisciplinary environment
• Competitive salary and benefits
• Opportunity to shape the scientific direction of the company from an early stage