Internal Job Title: Research Scientist II

Position Location: Onsite, Cambridge, MA #LI-Onsite

Biomedical Research (BR) is the innovation engine of Novartis, focusing on powerful new approaches that will help produce therapeutic breakthroughs for patients. The Discovery Sciences department within BR drives early-stage drug discovery and champions innovative therapeutics.

The Protein Sciences group in Discovery Sciences is an interdisciplinary team that has expertise in protein chemistry, enzymology, biophysics, NMR, X-ray crystallography, and electron microscopy. Our mission is to enable structure-guided drug discovery for multiple disease areas and to identify innovative approaches that can address difficult drug targets. We are currently recruiting a Research Scientist with a strong background and track record in protein biochemistry. The candidate will focus on the production of difficult protein targets with the aim of enabling downstream activities such as biophysics, structural biology, and high-throughput screening.  The responsibilities of this new position include designing protein constructs for optimal expression in various cell lines, developing methodologies for purification of difficult protein targets, and protein characterization with biophysical and structural techniques. You will closely collaborate with our scientists and contribute to protein production efforts on novel and challenging drug-discovery projects.

This is an excellent opportunity to join the vibrant research community of Novartis BR in Cambridge, MA to work on various early-stage drug discovery projects. The successful candidate will be a curious and highly motivated protein scientist with a collaborative spirit and excellent organizational and communication skills.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and execute protocols to produce various proteins targets for small molecule hit generation, hit validation and structural biology studies of protein-small molecule complexes.
• Design protein constructs based on literature and AI-powered structure prediction tools.
• Protein expression in mammalian and insect cell culture lines.
• Protein purification using various chromatography techniques and FPLC equipment.
• Collaborate with colleagues to characterize proteins using biophysical and structural biology techniques.
• Maintains a high level of professional expertise through accurate and detailed record keeping and familiarity with scientific literature.
• Work collaboratively with lab associates in a matrix setting to expand our protein production toolkit.
• Present and communicate results with protein science colleagues and project teams.

Minimum Requirements:

• BS or MS degree in biochemistry, life sciences, molecular biology or related field with at least 2 years of relevant research laboratory experience.  This is not a PhD-level position.
• Proven in-depth knowledge and hands-on experience in protein chemistry, including protein expression, purification, and characterization.
• Experience with molecular biology and protein sequence analysis.
• Demonstrated critical thinking and troubleshooting ability when handling challenging proteins
• Excellent collaboration, communication (oral and written) and organizational skills and the ability to present work formally to project teams and scientific research committees.
• Strong desire to learn new techniques in the areas of protein biochemistry, biophysics and structural biology.

Desirable Requirements:

• Experience with membrane protein biochemistry including expression, purification, characterization and functional assays
• Previous exposure to structural biology research including structural analysis and modeling, x-ray crystallography and/or cryo-EM.
• Experience in biophysical methods to characterize protein-protein or protein-ligand interactions (e.g. SPR, DSF, ITC).

The salary for this position is expected to range between $77,000 and $143,000 per year.

The final salary offered is determined based on factors like, but not limited to, relevant skills and experience, and upon joining Novartis will be reviewed periodically. Novartis may change the published salary range based on company and market factors.

Your compensation will include a performance-based cash incentive and, depending on the level of the role, eligibility to be considered for annual equity awards.

US-based eligible employees will receive a comprehensive benefits package that includes health, life and disability benefits, a 401(k) with company contribution and match, and a variety of other benefits. In addition, employees are eligible for a generous time off package including vacation, personal days, holidays and other leaves.

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