Associate Director,Genetic Epidemiology-CV, Metabolic, Musculoskeletal

Associate Director,Genetic Epidemiology-CV, Metabolic, Musculoskeletal

Position Summary

The Regeneron Genetics Center (RGC) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, whose goals are to apply large scale human genetics to identify new drug targets and to guide the development of therapeutics programs and precision medicine. Building upon Regeneron's strengths in mouse genetics and genetics-driven drug discovery and development, the RGC specializes in ultra-high-throughput exome sequencing, large scale informatics and data analysis encompassing genomics and electronic health records, and translating genetic discoveries into new biology and drug discovery opportunities. The RGC leverages multiple approaches including large population based studies, Mendelian genetics and family based studies, founder population genetics, and large-scale disease focused projects and has developed a network of over 50 collaborations with research organizations around the world. Including some of the largest sequencing studies in the world, such as the DiscovEHR study in collaboration with Geisinger Health System, and an initiative to sequence 500,000 participants with the UK Biobank, the RGC has built one of the largest human genetics databases, including sequence data from over several hundred thousand participants and rapidly growing. Our interests encompass a breadth of different areas across all therapeutic areas and the RGC is highly integrated into all facets of research and development at Regeneron. Program goals include target discovery, indication discovery, and patient-disease stratification. Objectives include advancing basic science around the world through public sharing of discoveries, providing clinically-valuable insights to physicians and providers of collaborating health-care systems, improving patient outcomes, and identifying novel targets for drug development.

Summary:

We are looking for a talented Genetic Epidemiologist with strong quantitative skills to join our Cardiovascular, Metabolic and Musculoskeletal Therapeutic Area Genetics team. The post holder will have key responsibilities in mining large human genetics datasets including 100,000s of genotyped and sequenced participants, in partnership with other RGC teams, to translate genetic findings into new therapeutic insights.

The key goals of the post will be (a) to empower the translation of genetic association findings into new therapeutic targets, indications and precision medicine approaches that will enable Regeneron to deliver better medicines to the patients who need them in the fields of Cardiovascular, Metabolic and Musculoskeletal Medicine; (b) to support existing pre-clinical and clinical development programs within Regeneron in these Therapeutic Areas using human genetics approaches; (c) to form strong partnerships with the Analytical Genomics, Clinical Informatics, other RGC’s teams to accomplish the goals of the Therapeutic Area Genetics team, RGC and Regeneron at large.

Responsibilities:

• Design and execute complex analyses across datasets to accomplish the translational goals of the Therapeutic Area Genetics team.
• Work in close collaboration with other Therapeutic Area Genetics team members and form a strong partnership with Analytical Genomics, Clinical Informatics and other RGC teams to deliver on complex, top-quality scientific endeavours in these Therapeutic Areas.
• Generate, summarise, and present results in internal and external meetings to a variety of audiences. Lead or contribute to the writing of scientific reports and publications.
• Represent the Therapeutic Area Genetics team in cross-functional initiatives within RGC and Regeneron.
• Collaborate with external industry and academic partners in scientific consortia.

Requirements:

• PhD in Genetic Epidemiology, Statistical Genetics (with an applied focus), Human Genetics or similar and strong quantitative and analytical skills.
• 5+ years of experience and/or an outstanding level of achievement in the field of large-scale human genetics post PhD.
• Expertise in the genome-wide and gene-centric analysis of large human genetics datasets for translational insights. The successful candidate will use (a) Mendelian randomization to elucidate causal mechanisms and evaluate whether pharmacological treatment of a target is likely to be effective and safe; (b) polygenic risk scores to enhance etiologic understanding and genetic prediction, (c) fine-mapping and other prioritization approaches to identify causal variants and genes underlying genetic association signals and (d) will routinely combine information across multiple traits, variants and data sources to generate new insights. An outstanding candidate will have contributed to the application of these methods to important biological problems in the field of Cardiovascular, Metabolic and Musculoskeletal Medicine.
• Expertise with modern cluster and cloud computing environments and with statistical analysis software (R environment for statistical computing, STATA) and human genetics analysis tools (METAL, GCTA, PLINK or similar).
• Interest in understanding the genetic basis of Cardiovascular, Metabolic and Musculoskeletal diseases and translating this knowledge into therapeutic insights. An outstanding candidate will have previously worked on cardiovascular, metabolic or musculoskeletal phenotypes.
• Ability to work in a highly interactive environment with a diverse team of colleagues. Ability to provide mentorship and guidance to more junior colleagues to help them develop their full potential and build new skills and abilities.
• Outstanding communication skills and an ability to summarize and present the results of human genetic studies to a variety of technical audiences, ranging from experts in statistical genetics, human genetics, biology, drug design and medicine.
• A commitment to high-quality science and to the highest standards of research and work ethics and integrity.

This is an opportunity to join our select team that is already leading the way in the Pharmaceutical/Biotech industry. Apply today and learn more about Regeneron’s unwavering commitment to combining good science & good business.