Notch Therapeutics opening: Scientist II, iPSC Engineering
Scientist II, iPSC Engineering
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA
Role Summary
Notch Therapeutics is seeking a highly motivated Scientist II in the Cell Engineering group to engineer iPSCs to support our allogenic cellular therapy pipeline. This position will play crucial role in developing a pipeline inventory of iPSCs with modifications to enable allogeneic use, safety elements and/or CAR/TCR constructs. This candidate would be a subject matter expert in screening, generating, and validating iPSC clones, and lead tech transfer process to GMP facility.
About Notch (www.notchtx.com)
Notch is developing a pipeline of cellular immunotherapies originating from pluripotent stem cells that are specifically engineered to address the underlying biology of complex disease systems. The company has unlocked the ability for large-quantity production of T cells and other cells from any source of stem cells to bring best-in-class cell therapies for cancer and other immune disorders to thousands of patients. The core of the Notch platform is the Engineered Thymic Niche (ETN), which enables precision control of cell fate during the differentiation and expansion of stem cells in suspension bioreactors without the need for feeder cells or serum. The ETN has the potential to generate immunotherapies with decreased variability, increased potency, and engineered improvements. The technology was invented in the laboratories of Juan-Carlos Zúñiga-Pflücker, Ph.D. at Sunnybrook Research Institute and Peter Zandstra, Ph.D., FRSC at the University of Toronto. Notch was founded by these two institutions, in conjunction with MaRS Innovation (now Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners) and the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM), which initially incubated the company.
Key responsibilities
- Establish workflow to generate iPSC clonal cell lines
- Identify and establish robust methods to drive development and evaluation of gene edited iPSC clones at research and GMP level
- Develop and refine molecular assays to screen and characterize clones
- Oversee technology transfer of process and analytical assays to GMP facilities
- Identify external partners or vendors/CROs for confirming clones
- Establish a medium to high throughput screening workflow for gene knockout in iPSCs
- Develop approaches for integration of synthetic gene constructs
- Design and implement engineering strategies across projects
- Interact with scientists within cell/protein engineering group and CMC groups to develop project-specific engineering strategies
- Maintain project timeline and report progress regularly to the project team
- Maintain excellent records of experiments in lab notebooks in a timely manner
- Other responsibilities as required
- Present data at group and company meetings and externally as required
- Participate in external collaborations with partners and CROs
- Support lab operations and equipment purchasing/ vendor selection
Role Requirements and Qualifications
- PhD in molecular biology, bioengineering, cell biology or a closely related discipline with 5+ years of postgraduate work experience in a biotech or industry position or master’s degree with 8+ years of experience in a biotech/pharma setting
- Extensive experience with iPSC characterization, cell culture, transfection, differentiation, and expansion
- Experience with differentiation of iPSC to various types of immune cells is highly preferred
- Experience working with single-cell sorter and dispenser
- Hands-on experience with molecular-based assays to validate genetic modifications.
- In-depth understanding of generating clonal iPSC cell lines and validation
- Independently design studies and develop analytical methods such as flow cytometry, ddPCR, real-time PCR
- Experience with generating NGS sequencing libraries and analysis of sequencing data is a plus
- Ability to effectively prioritize, plan, and execute next steps based on experimental results in a fast-paced research environment.
- Team-oriented, can-do attitude. Motivated to contribute and to learn new techniques.
- Strong organizational, record-keeping and communication skills, both verbal and written
Desired Characteristics and Demonstrated Skills
Demonstrated ability and keen interest in modelling Notch’s Core Values: Collaborative, Motivated, Ingenious
Notch Therapeutics Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applications will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, color, religion, sex, marital status, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local law.