Senior Scientist, Gene Therapy

Janssen Research & Development, L.L.C., a division of Johnson & Johnson's Family of Companies is recruiting for a Senior Scientist, located in South San Francisco, CA.

At the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, we are working to create a world without disease. Transforming lives by finding new and better ways to prevent, intercept, treat and cure disease inspires us. We bring together the best minds and pursue the most promising science. We are Janssen. We collaborate with the world for the health of everyone in it. Learn more at www.janssen.com and follow us @JanssenGlobal. Janssen Research & Development, LLC is part of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies.

The Senior Scientist position in Gene Therapy and Gene Delivery Platforms group of Janssen Biotherapeutics offers an exciting opportunity to help develop novel Gene Therapies for unmet medical needs. We are investigating the use of Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) vectors to deliver therapeutic proteins to patients for disease prevention as well as treatment of retinal, neuro, and infectious diseases. We are seeking a highly motivated and independent researcher to lead a group that is engineering new AAV therapeutic vectors for lead indications, purifying AAV for animal studies, and evaluating advanced AAV manufacturing technologies.

The successful candidate will have a background in gene regulation and will establish a platform to optimize therapeutic transgene expression using a matrix of vectors with different promoters and other regulatory elements followed by testing in vitro and/or in vivo. The scientist will play a key role in establishing AAV producer cell lines and evaluating other scaleable manufacturing technologies that will make developing Gene Therapies for common diseases possible and affordable.

Key characteristics include, but are not limited to: Ability to build a highly-efficient team capable of handling tight timelines and delivery of quality data; Independent thinker with ability to design, organize, and execute both short- and long-term research strategies; Highly-effective communicator capable of delivering data-based reports in all relevant formats.

• Ph.D. in Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, Gene Therapy or related field with at least 9 years of experience, in the pharmaceutical industry or academic environment is required
• Experience building and optimizing mammalian gene expression constructs through building combinations of promoter and 5’/3’ regulatory sequences and an optimized coding region followed by functional testing in cell culture or in animals is required.
• Experience performing quantitative gene expression analyses such as ddPCR/ qPCR, reporter gene assays (such as luciferase, SEAP, and fluorescence), and/or immunohistochemistry is required.
• Experience with protein purification by affinity and ion-exchange chromatography is preferred.
• Experience purifying AAV or adenovirus vectors is preferred.
• Hands-on experience with mammalian tissue culture for a minimum of 2 years is required. Experience developing stable cell lines is preferred.
• Strong critical, scientific, and strategic thinking skills allowing individual to work independently with minimal supervision is required
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively in cross-functional teams is required

Johnson & Johnson is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability