Scientific Lead, Biophysical Chemistry

At Lilly, we unite caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. We are a global healthcare leader headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Our employees around the world work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to our communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. We give our best effort to our work, and we put people first. We’re looking for people who are determined to make life better for people around the world.

About Loxo@Lilly:

Loxo@Lilly aims to create medicines that make life better for all those affected by cancer around the world. Bringing together the focus and spirit of a biotech with the scale, resources, and heritage of Lilly, our team is focused on rapidly delivering impactful new medicines for people with cancer. Our approach centers on creating oncology medicines that unequivocally show early signs of clinical activity and will matter to patients.  We intend to curate a balanced pipeline of medicines, either internally or externally discovered, with the potential to treat cancer with dramatic effect.  Loxo@Lilly was created in December 2019, combining the Lilly Oncology organization and Loxo Oncology, which was acquired by Lilly in early 2019.  Loxo@Lilly is a global organization with team members in Louisville, Colorado; Indianapolis, Indiana; New York City, New York; San Diego, California; South San Francisco, California; Stamford, Connecticut; and Madrid, Spain.

Position Summary:

The Scientific Lead, Biophysical Chemistry, Large Molecule Discovery of Loxo@Lilly will play a critical role in characterization of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), bispecific antibodies (BsIgGs), multi-specific antibodies and antibody drug conjugates (ADCs); including developability & stability assessments and support of lead optimization efforts.

The role will be responsible for screening and detailed analytical and biophysical characterization of mAbs, BsIgGs, multi-specific antibodies and ADCs generated by our discovery and bioconjugation teams. The role will also be responsible for organizing and executing developability assessments (such as forced degradation studies and biophysical property assessments), using various biophysical platforms.  This individual contributor within the Biophysical Chemistry group will require a clear understanding of the strategies laid out by the Loxo@Lilly Large Molecule Discovery team and will require hands-on execution in the laboratory.

*Roles and Responsibilities of the Position:

• Work with discovery, bioconjugation and engineering team members to screen, characterize and investigate (using analytical and biophysical platforms and methodologies) biologicals comprised of antibodies, ADCs, and other modalities, created for treatment of several oncological indications
• Independently design and execute key experiments for analytical and biophysical characterization of these large molecules from early discovery to early development stage that includes accelerated stability and developability assessments
• Interact and collaborate with other teams across the company to provide biophysical solutions; efficiently analyze, collate, and disseminate data to deliver results to teams in a timely manner consistent with project timelines
• Evaluate new and emerging analytical and biophysical techniques and instrumentation with the aim of expanding the capabilities and depth of molecular characterization provided by the Biophysical Chemistry team
• Participate and present periodic updates and reports to senior management to significantly influence strategic research decisions and operations

*Required Qualifications:

• PhD with 0-5 years exp post-doc/academic research/industry exp MS degree with 6+ years industry experience BS degree with 8+ years industry experience
• Previous industry/academic/research experience with good understanding of drug development process of therapeutic antibodies, antibody conjugates, bi and multi-specific molecules and other modalities.

• Knowledge and hands-on experience with biophysical techniques and platforms for characterization of stability, purity and quality of biologics, such as dynamic light scattering (DLS), static light scattering (SLS), capillary isoelectric focusing (cIEF), size exclusion chromatography (SEC), multi-angle light scattering (MALS), ion exchange chromatography (IEX), hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC), CE-SDS, and SDS-PAGE.

• Hands-on experience in characterization of biomolecular interactions using various industry standard technologies (e.g. SPR, BLI) and other relevant technologies for characterization of high/low affinities, active concentrations, cross-blocking, heterogeneities, and other product defining characteristics
• Being highly organized and detail oriented with excellent analytical, documentation, and multi-tasking skills.

Additional Preferences:

• Previous experience with purification and characterization of bispecifc, multispecific antibodies, and/or ADCs
• Experience in lead optimization
• Experience with cell binding technologies such as flow cytometry, Ligand Tracer, or Real-Time Interaction Cytometry
• Experience in laboratory automation for liquid handling and screening
• Experience with spectroscopic techniques for characterization of biomolecules (e.g., UV/Fluorescence)
• Hands-on experience with vendor provided software for biosensor data analysis and visualization. Experience with additional software tools such as Graphpad Prism, R, Matlab, Spotfire etc.
• Prior experience participating in team efforts for antibody lead panel generation, lead optimization and IND enabling studies
• Previous experience supervising & mentoring scientists, setting expectations and providing clear direction
• Must have a can-do attitude to take on challenging projects and to meet project timelines
• Have excellent communication skills and strong organizational abilities

Physical Demands/ Travel:

Travel: TBD

The physical demands here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

Work Environment:

This position’s work environment is in a lab setting

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.

Lilly currently anticipates that the base salary for this position could range from between $104,250 to $195,00 and will depend, in part, on the successful candidate’s qualifications for the role, including education and experience. Full-time equivalent employees also will be eligible for a company bonus (depending, in part, on company and individual performance). In addition, Lilly offers a comprehensive benefit program to eligible employees, including eligibility to participate in a company-sponsored 401(k); pension; vacation benefits; eligibility for medical, dental, vision and prescription drug benefits; flexible benefits (e.g., healthcare and/or dependent day care flexible spending accounts); life insurance and death benefits; certain time off and leave of absence benefits; and well-being benefits (e.g., employee assistance program, fitness benefits, and employee clubs and activities).Of course, the compensation described above is subject to change and could be higher or lower than the range described above. Further, Lilly reserves the right to amend, modify, or terminate its compensation and benefit programs in its sole discretion and Lilly’s compensation practices and guidelines will apply regarding the details of any promotion or transfer of Lilly employees.

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