Lead or Senior Scientist - Genome Editing, Genomics, Biotechnology (Shengdar Q. Tsai Lab)

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital; Memphis (TN); On-site; USD 104,000 - 238,000; Full time

Job summary

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis invites applications for Lead or Senior Scientist in the Tsai Lab to advance an in vivo base editing platform for bone marrow disorders.

The role focuses on developing personalized genome editing therapies, performing IND-enabling studies, and preparing drug products for clinical trials with substantial room for career growth. Collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams within DRIVE and ARPA-H partnerships to translate genome editing into patient

Qualifications

• Proven expertise in genome editing drug development.
• Experience leading multi-disciplinary teams.
• Strong record of publications and collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop in vivo base editing drug products for bone marrow disorders.
• Characterize genotoxicity using state-of-the-art genomic assays.
• Optimize potency and specificity of HSC-targeted delivery approaches.
• Co-lead a multi-disciplinary team to test platform approaches for in vivo genome editing medicines.
• Coordinate a team of scientists to advance a novel gene editing platform.

Skills

Genome editing

Drug development

Leadership

IND-enabling studies

Education

PhD in a relevant field

Postdoc or equivalent

Tools

CHANGE-seq-BE

CHANCE-seq

LNP delivery

Job description

Lead or Senior Scientist - Genome Editing, Genomics, Biotechnology (Shengdar Q. Tsai Lab)

Location

Memphis, TN

Category

Laboratory Sciences & Support

Department

Hematology

Shift

Weekday Day

Position Type

Full Time

Scheduled Weekly Hours

40

JR7689

Job Description

A Lead or Senior Scientist opportunity with the Tsai Lab to develop a therapeutic platform for in vivo base editing treatments and drug products to treat patients with bone marrow failure disorders at St. Jude.

Help us build an individualized therapeutic base editing platform to treat St. Jude patients with rare bone marrow failure disorders by correcting their disease-causing mutations in their hematopoietic stem cells in vivo. Dr. Tsai leads the recently launched DRIVE project (Delivering Rare-disease In vivo Editors), funding a multi-institutional, public-private partnership to develop in vivo base editors for treatment of bone marrow failure disorders.

Bring your expertise in genome editing drug development to a Lead Scientist role in the Tsai Lab , where you will help advance genome editing technologies toward individualized treatments for pediatric patients. Our goal is to develop in vivo base editing drug products, complete IND-enabling studies, and open clinical trials in the next 3 years.

About the job opportunity. We are seeking an outstanding and highly motivated Lead Scientist or Senior Scientist to help lead efforts to develop personalized genome editing treatments. We care deeply about the success of our scientists, and this is a unique opportunity to help lead development of an in vivo gene therapeutic gene editing platform and drug products at St. Jude, with substantial room for career growth and advancement.

Overview of our lab. The Tsai lab is a highly collaborative, creative, and motivated group of scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Our research centers on development of state-of-the-art genomic methods for understanding the global activities of genome editors, protein engineering to improve capabilities for precise editing, and translation to autologous genome edited hematopoietic stem cell therapies. Dr. Tsai also co-leads the PARADIGM (Partnership to Advance Development of Individualized Genomic Medicines) blue sky project.

You would have opportunities to lead an exciting and fast-paced drug development effort:

• Design and develop in vivo base editing drug products to treat St. Jude patients with bone marrow failure disorders.
• Characterize the genotoxicity of candidate drug products using state-of-the art genomic assays such as CHANGE-seq-BE and CHANCE-seq, including variant-aware analysis.
• Optimize potency and specificity of a HSC-targeted lipid nanoparticle gene editing approach.
• Co-lead a multi-disciplinary team to test a new streamlined platform approach for in vivo genome editing medicines.

You would learn valuable skills that include:

• Genome engineering, high-throughput genomics, laboratory automation, IND-enabling studies for genome editing drug development.

Project-dependent responsibilities would include:

• Coordinate a team of scientists working to develop a novel gene editing platform.
• Accelerate lead-target discovery, genotoxicity characterization, and cargo optimization.
• Non-clinical pharmacology studies of an HSC-targeted lipid nanoparticle.
• Continuously assess and manage project technical and drug development risks.
• Analyze experimental outcomes and develop high-quality summaries.
• Summarize results and present updates to the broader DRIVE and ARPA-H teams.
• Draft manuscripts and figures for publication in high-impact journals.

Lead Scientist Minimum Experience:

• Twelve (12) years of relevant work experience is required with a Bachelor’s degree
• Ten (10) years of relevant experience is required with a Master’s degree
• Seven (7) years of relevant work experience is required with a PhD

Salary Range: $125,840.00/yr. - $238,160.00/yr.

Senior Scientist Minimum Experience:

• Ten (10) years relevant work experience is required
• Eight (8) years of relevant work experience is required with a Master's degree
• Five (5) years of relevant work experience is required with a PhD

Salary Range: $104,000/yr. - $186,160.00/yr.

St. Jude Benefits

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is one of the world’s leading pediatric hospitals whose mission is to advance cures for catastrophic childhood diseases. Consistent with the vision of our founder, no child is denied treatment based on race, religion, or ability to pay.

St. Jude has been consistently named one of the best companies to work for by Fortune, Glassdoor, and others. St. Jude offers excellent benefits, a competitive salary, relocation assistance, and actively fosters professional development. As part of your role, you will have opportunities to attend and present at national and international meetings such as ASGCT, ASH, Keystone Genome Engineering, CSHL Genome Editing, and FASEB Genome Engineering.

Compensation

In recognition of certain U.S. state and municipal pay transparency laws, St. Jude is including a reasonable estimate of the compensation range for this role. This is an estimate offered in good faith and a specific salary offer takes into account factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets, experience and training, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs. It is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the salary range and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current salary range is $125,840 - $238,160 per year for the role of Lead or Senior Scientist - Genome Editing, Genomics, Biotechnology (Shengdar Q. Tsai Lab).

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