Senior Scientist Phage Display

CK Group- Science, Clinical and Technical; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading biopharmaceutical company is seeking a Senior Scientist to join their Protein Binder Discovery team. The successful candidate will utilize their phage display expertise to identify and characterize protein binders for drug discovery. Candidates should possess a PhD or equivalent experience in biology and have at least 3 years of experience in phage display campaigns. This role is based in Cambridge and offers an opportunity to work in a dynamic, interdisciplinary environment.

Qualifications

• At least 3 years of experience in phage display campaigns.
• Expertise in phage display technologies and selection techniques.
• Experience with phage antibody libraries preferred.

Responsibilities

• Employ phage display technology to select protein binders.
• Screen and validate hits using high-throughput assays.
• Subcloning for expression and protein engineering.

Skills

Phage display expertise

Protein-protein interaction screening

Molecular biology proficiency

Problem-solving skills

Interpersonal skills

Education

PhD or MSc/MRes in relevant biology

Job description

Overview

CK Group are partnering with Nxera Pharma UK Limited (formerly Sosei Heptares) to recruit a lab-based Senior Scientist in the Protein Binder Discovery team based at Granta Park, Cambridge.

Nxera Pharma is a technology powered biopharma company focused on developing new specialty medicines to improve patients’ lives in Japan and globally, with therapeutic focus areas in inflammation diseases, neurology, and immunology.

The Role

We are seeking an experienced phage display scientist to join the Protein Binders team within the Platform Technology division at Nxera Pharma. The successful candidate will use phage display expertise to identify and characterise protein binders against therapeutic membrane protein targets to enable structure determination and drug discovery efforts. The candidate will work in interdisciplinary, project-centric teams to accelerate the development of life-changing medicines.

The role will include the following responsibilities:

• Employing phage display technology to select protein binders against membrane protein targets
• Screening and validating hits using high-throughput assays (e.g., ELISA formats, BLI, cell binding assays)
• Assay development for challenging targets
• Subcloning of plasmid constructs for expression and protein engineering of antibody frameworks
• Biophysical evaluation of VHH hits
• Sharing expertise and ideas with the team and department to influence project success
• Lab management to ensure equipment is regularly maintained and consumables organised efficiently

Requirements

• PhD (or MSc/MRes with equivalent lab experience) in a relevant area of biology with at least 3 years of experience carrying out phage display campaigns
• Theoretical and practical expertise in phage display technologies and selection techniques
• Experience working with phage antibody libraries and preferably VHH display
• Strong and evidenced molecular biology proficiency
• Demonstrable expertise in protein-protein interaction screening techniques
• Dynamic, analytical thinker with good problem-solving skills
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to interact effectively with scientists across disciplines to generate timely and informative data

Desirables

• Measuring protein binder affinity using either BLI or SPR
• Affinity maturation
• Library build (affinity maturation or immunised, naïve or synthetic libraries)
• Working with membrane proteins (in particular GPCRs)
• Computational expertise in protein binder design

Apply

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It is essential that applicants hold entitlement to work in the UK.