Senior Scientist, Cell Production & Tissue Engineering

Socket.dev; Medford (MA); On-site; USD 128,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

United Therapeutics in Medford, MA, seeks a senior stem cell biologist to lead production and QC of differentiated renal cells and to advance iPS-derived endothelial and renal epithelial cell methods for R&D. You’ll work with a cell production team to deliver high-quality cell-based therapies for kidney disease.

The role requires extensive experience in stem cell differentiation and GMP workflows, with a PhD or equivalent.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s, Master’s or PhD in a relevant science field.
• 10+ years in stem cell differentiation, reprogramming, and scale-up.
• Experience with GMP-ready cell production processes.
• Strong analytical and data interpretation skills.
• Proven ability to mentor and lead research teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of methods for production of primary and iPS-derived renal cells.
• Advance maturation of iPS-derived renal cell phenotypes and physiologic assays.
• Coordinate internal and external cell production for R&D.
• Collaborate with manufacturing to ensure GMP readiness.
• Develop and validate analytical methods for cell quality.

Skills

Stem cell biology

iPS reprogramming

Cell differentiation

Bioreactor scale-up

GMP readiness

Analytical methods

Team leadership

Mentoring

Regulatory knowledge

Experimental design

Education

PhD in biomedical engineering, cell biology, molecular biology, or related field

Master’s in biomedical engineering, cell biology, molecular biology, or related field

Bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering, cell biology, molecular biology, or related field

Tools

CliniMACS Plus

FACS

LOVO

Cue

Sepax

Sefia

Rotea

Ambr systems

Vertical wheel bioreactors

Job description

California, US residents click here.

The job details are as follows:

Who We Are

We are the first publicly-traded biotech or pharmaceutical company to take the form of a public benefit corporation. Our public benefit purpose is to provide a brighter future for patients through the development of novel pharmaceutical therapies; and technologies that expand the availability of transplantable organs. United Therapeutics (Nasdaq: UTHR) seeks to travel down the corridors of indifference to develop treatments for rare, deadly diseases. We were founded in 1996 by a family seeking a cure for their daughter’s pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Today, we have six FDA-approved therapies that treat PAH, pulmonary hypertension associated with interstitial lung disease (PH-ILD) and neuroblastoma, a rare pediatric cancer. Our near‑term pipeline seeks to develop additional therapies for PAH and pulmonary fibrosis (PF). The cure for end‑stage life‑threatening diseases like PAH, PH-ILD, PF, and many others is an organ transplant, but only a small percentage of donated organs are available to address the vast need. For this reason, we are working to create manufactured organs to address the shortage of kidneys, hearts, lungs, and livers available for transplant. We believe an unlimited supply of tolerable, transplantable organs will eliminate the transplant waiting list and cure end‑stage organ diseases for which transplant is not currently an option.

Millions worldwide are living with chronic kidney disease or diabetes. Management and maintenance therapies are ongoing, expensive, and often undermine the person’s quality of life. Their only hope for a cure is an kidney transplant. Unfortunately, the shortage of available kidneys causes patients to spend an average of 5 or more years on the waitlist, and many die before receiving surgery. At IVIVA, we are working to transform the status quo by developing fully implantable bioartificial kidneys. Our goal is to develop a cure that can allows patients with kidney dysfunction to lead a normal life.

Who You Are

There has never been a more exciting time to join IVIVA, a United Therapeutics company. This position offers someone the opportunity of a lifetime – to see a product into something real, an opportunity to create a human kidney equivalent and save lives on a scale before unknown. This position is seeking a stem cell biologist to produce and QC differentiated renal cells, and develop enhanced methods to produce patient derived endothelial and renal epithelial cells in support of R&D operations. The scientist ensures stable production of differentiated cells for 2D and 3D systems experiments independently as well as part of a cell production team. This position plans, conducts, and supports experiments to develop, manufacture, and evaluate cell‑based therapeutics for the treatment of end‑stage renal disease.

• Lead the development and implementation of robust process methods for the production of primary and/or iPS‑derived renal cells
• Lead the development and implementation of methods to mature iPS‑derived renal cell phenotypes functionally and develop and implement physiologic assays to test this function in vitro
• Lead and contribute to cell production efforts, including both internal and external manufacturing, to ensure the availability of high-quality cells for R&D cellularization initiatives supporting advanced organ therapeutics
• Contribute to academic and industry collaborations and facilitate technology transfer activities, ensuring seamless integration of external innovations and methodologies into internal laboratory processes
• Develop, implement, and oversee analytical methods for characterizing the quality and suitability of iPS‑derived cells used in the generation of 3D printed organs
• Independently and collaboratively design, execute, and oversee complex laboratory experiments and projects that advance program objectives. Exercise independent judgment in evaluating, selecting, and substantially adapting or modifying standard techniques, procedures, and criteria
• Participate in the selection, acquisition, and implementation of laboratory equipment, ensuring alignment with research needs and operational efficiency
• Develop, author, and review laboratory methods and protocols, ensuring scientific rigor, reproducibility, and compliance with regulatory standards
• Act as a scientific lead in evaluating new technologies for future process development
• Collaborate with manufacturing team to ensure process and methods for production of iPS‑derived cells are GMP ready
• Author and contribute to scientific publications and presentations at conferences. Lead or support patent and publication efforts, including the development of protocols, abstracts, posters, manuscripts, and study reports
• Prepare and contribute to intellectual property (IP) and regulatory filings, ensuring that documentation meets internal and external requirements for innovation protection and compliance
• May direct and manage team to include responsibilities for goal setting, performance reviews/management, coaching, mentoring and career development
• Mentor and guide Associate Scientists and junior team members in research direction and experimental design
• Perform all other duties as assigned

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in biomedical engineering, cell biology, molecular biology, or other related discipline or
• Master’s Degree in biomedical engineering, cell biology, molecular biology, or other related discipline or
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in biomedical engineering, cell biology, molecular biology, or other related discipline
• 10+ years of relevant experience including experience in stem cell differentiation, reprogramming, bioreactor cell production scale up, regenerative medicine with a Bachelor's Degree or
• 8+ years of relevant experience including experience in stem cell differentiation, reprogramming, bioreactor cell production scale up, regenerative medicine with a Master's Degree or
• 5+ years of relevant experience including experience in stem cell differentiation, reprogramming, bioreactor cell production scale up, regenerative medicine, tissue engineering with a PhD
• Technical expertise in iPS‑reprogramming and/or expansion and differentiation methods
• Ability to formulate hypotheses and design and perform sophisticated, technically challenging, and often novel experiments
• Ability to identify the broad implications to findings, which transcend the immediate experiment
• Ability to analyze and distill complicated, multi-dimensional data and synthesize results into a cohesive body of conclusions or recommendations for increasingly complex and diverse studies
• Ability to identify, interpret, and disseminate relevant knowledge from publications in a broader scientific area
• Experience with laboratory instrumentation and data software; Facility with appropriate word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and related standard software
• Ability to mentor and motivate team members
• Advanced written and oral communication skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in iPSC differentiation to endothelial and renal epithelial cells
• Expertise in automated cell processing equipment such CliniMACS Plus, FACS, LOVO, Cue, Sepax, Sefia, Rotea and others
• Knowledge in transfer of R&D cell expansion methods to GMP
• Technical expertise in cell bioreactor culture including Ambr systems and vertical wheel bioreactors with scales up to 10L+

Job Location

This role is located 100% onsite in Medford, Massachusetts.

The salary range for this position is $127,500.00 - $170,000.00 and reflects our good‑faith estimate of the compensation for this role at the time of posting. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on factors such as education, qualifications, experience, skills, geographic location, and business needs, as well as other factors permitted by law at the time of posting. This range may be modified in the future based on company and market factors.

At United Therapeutics, our mission and vision are one. We use our enthusiasm, creativity, and persistence to innovate for the unmet medical needs of our patients and to benefit our other stakeholders. We are bold and unconventional. We have fun, we do good.

Eligible employees may participate in the Company’s comprehensive benefits suite of programs, including medical / dental / vision / prescription coverage, employee wellness resources, savings plans (401k and ESPP), paid time off & paid parental leave benefits, disability benefits, and more. For additional information on Company benefits, please visit https://www.unither.com/careers/benefits-and-amenities

United Therapeutics Corporation is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including veterans and individuals with disabilities.