Senior Scientist, Colorectal Cancer Interception, Oncology Drug Discovery

Job Description

The SENIOR SCIENTIST Candidate will support pre-clinical drug discovery programs for Colorectal Cancer Interception within the Oncology Therapeutic Area of Janssen. This position involves lab-directed efforts to support and lead novel target validation and early drug discovery, with both internal and external partners. Specifically, SENIOR SCIENTIST candidate will work on and lead programs to initiate novel efforts for validation and early drug discovery in exploratory platforms, pathways, and disease treatment paradigms. Experimental work is an important part of the role and the successful candidate will spend a significant part of his/her time at the bench and demonstrate rigorous data documentation and analysis skills. Prospective candidates should have at least 5-10+ years of bench experience working within a drug discovery program. Experience supporting and leading programs that have moved from preclinical through clinical development is required.

Technical Skill requirements include:

• Molecular assays (Western blot, qPCR/RT-PCR, pTyr assays and pathway analysis)
• Design, develop and implement in vitro assays including, but not limited to, binding, signaling, activation, cytokine release, and enzymatic activity.
• Cellular and Microbiology assays (tissue culture, microbial culture, cytotoxicity/killing, experience with anti-microbials is a plus)
• The SENIOR SCIENTIST candidate will work independently to understand, analyze, and interpret data and communicate results in Powerpoint presentations to align with Colorectal Cancer Interception strategies
• Additional responsibilities include assay trouble shooting and development of new technology platforms.

Experience working in multidisciplinary teams is required, and will require excellent communication skills, and a strong ability to present data in an organized fashion. The candidate must perform meticulous record keeping and generate scientific reports to support preclinical drug development. Ability to contribute to documents to support IND filings, patent applications, external conference posters and journal articles is preferred.

Requirements:

• Ph.D. degree in a biology-related field preferred
• 5-10+ years of laboratory experience in a pharmaceutical setting supporting drug discovery efforts including programs in Oncology
• Drug development experience, particularly around small molecule programs, is required.
• Preclinical pharmacology experience required including design and conduct using models of disease.
• Colorectal cancer expertise in areas such as microbiology, immunology, oncology, cell and/or molecular biology expertise is preferred.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office programs (Excel, Powerpoint), FlowJo, Graphpad Prism, Spotfire, and other data management systems.