Senior Scientist Details

Senior Scientist

Astellas Pharmaceuticals - Cambridge, MA

Employment Type : Full-Time

Do you want to be part of an inclusive team that works to develop innovative therapies for patients? Every day, we are driven to develop and deliver innovative and effective new medicines to patients and physicians. If you want to be part of this exciting work, you belong at Astellas!

Astellas Pharma Inc is a pharmaceutical company conducting business in more than 70 countries around the world. We are committed to turning innovative science into medical solutions that bring value and hope to patients and their families. Keeping our focus on addressing unmet medical needs and conducting our business with ethics and integrity enables us to improve the health of people throughout the world. For more information on Astellas, please visit our website at www.astellas.com .

Mitobridge is an affiliate of Astellas. At Mitobridge, we are passionate about developing novel therapeutics that improve mitochondrial function to treat devastating human diseases. Mitochondrial dysfunction is increasingly linked to disease pathologies and we believe that 'normalizing' mitochondrial function can ameliorate or reverse disease states.

Astellas is announcing a Senior Scientist, Translational Sciences opportunity at their Mitobridge site in Cambridge, MA.

Purpose:

• Reporting to the Sr Director of Drug Discovery, the Sr Scientist will be responsible to deliver translational strategies for all drug discovery programs in a variety of disease areas and at various stages of preclinical and/or development.

• The successful candidate will be an outstanding scientist of cross-functional project teams and will be accountable for developing and driving implementation of translational plans, identifying preclinical models with mechanistic alignment to human disease, defining the preclinical and early clinical biomarker strategy, and helping to build the early clinical development plan.

• Develop and maintain strong collaborations and relations with internal and external scientists and KOLs in areas of interest for the Company.

Essential Job Responsibilities:

• Contribute relevant scientific expertise, strategy, and experimentally-derived insights as a member of multidisciplinary project teams working to drive the preclinical to clinical translation of pipeline assets

• Plan and implement (in-vitro/in-vivo/ex-vivo) translational research including pharmacodynamic markers of target engagement, markers predictive of or correlating with clinical efficacy and disease biology

• Establish and cultivate relationships with external partners, clinical and academic collaborators and CROs for basic and translational research

• Analyze and interpret experimental data readouts and present results at internal meetings and scientific conferences

• Maintain an awareness of new/emerging techniques, tools and clinical findings relevant to the field

• Contribute to preparation of study reports, regulatory filings and project presentations

• Provide high-level updates and advice to program leads and senior management, including evaluation of data and their potential impact on drug programs and clinical/regulatory strategy

• Manage 1 or 2 junior level scientists in their daily activites

Quantitative Dimensions:

• Oversee collaborations with academic investigators or industry partners on in vivo pharmacology aspects of each program; work with key opinion leaders in specific disease areas to identify best animal models

• Keep abreast of emerging novel and better translational cellular models that could facilitate identification and validation of new targets or development of new therapeutics

Organizational Context:

• Reporting to the Sr. Director, Translational Services

Qualifications:

Required:

• D. with 5+ (or MS with 8+, BS with 12+) years laboratory experience of highly relevant experience will be considered.

• Demonstrated creativity and novel approaches to solving scientific problems

• Knowledge of preclinical and clinical biomarker discovery and development

• Deep understanding of preclinical PK/PD/efficacy relationships and their translation to the clinic

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with an enthusiasm for participating in a fast-paced environment characterized by rigorous science and innovative thinking

• Demonstrated application of expertise to translational drug discovery in multiple therapeutic areas

• Extensive experience with engaging and managing external biomarker efforts with contract research organizations and academic collaborators

• At home in a results-driven, highly accountable environment where you can make a clear impact

• A team player, who listens effectively and invites response and discussion. A collaborator who communicates in an open, clear, complete, timely and consistent manner

Preferred:

• PhD with 5+ years of relevant industry experience in a biopharmaceutical setting with extensive hands-on experience leading the in vivo pharmacology aspect of drug discovery projects from target validation to IND-enabling studies

• Experience with large, multimodal data sets and familiarity with techniques for exploring associations of biomarkers with clinical outcomes

• Strategic thinker with proven leadership skills and/or prior project team leadership roles

• Proficiency in distilling complex issues and clearly articulating viable paths forward

• Experience in muscle and/or kidney pathophysiology, metabolic diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, mitochondrial biology, autophagy, small molecule pharmacology

• Experience working within large pharma organizations and biotech/start up environment

Benefits:

• Medical, Dental and Vision Insurance

• Generous Paid Time Off options, including Vacation and Sick time, plus national holidays including year-end shut down

• 401(k) match and annual company contribution

• Company paid life insurance

• Annual Corporate Bonus and Quarterly Sales Incentive for eligible positions

• Long Term Incentive Plan for eligible positions

• Referral bonus program

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Category Research and Development

Astellas is committed to equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment. EOE including Disability/Protected Veterans