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Senior Scientist, Vaccine Immunology

Employer
Pfizer
Location
Pearl River, New York
Salary
Competitive
Closing date
May 15, 2022
Why Patients Need You

Pfizer's purpose is to deliver breakthroughs that change patients' lives. Research and Development is at the heart of fulfilling Pfizer's purpose as we work to translate advanced science and technologies into the therapies and vaccines that matter most. Whether you are in the discovery sciences, ensuring drug safety and efficacy or supporting clinical trials, you will apply cutting edge design and process development capabilities to accelerate and bring the best in class medicines to patients around the world.

What You Will Achieve

As a Senior Scientist, you will be at the center of our research and development of novel vaccines and you'll find that everything we do, every day, is in line with an unwavering commitment to quality. You will be a member of our growing Viral Vaccine team and contribute to understanding the Mechanisms of action of our vaccines. You will contribute to the development and execution of immunological assays.

You will be an experienced immunologist and molecular biologist in the field of infectious diseases, preferably virology, to evaluate the potential immune correlate of protection for our protein and RNA-based viral vaccine candidates. The successful applicant will work in the matrix work frame of vaccines and other research units at Pfizer to develop and execute novel serological, molecular and cellular assays to evaluate immune response in various samples from preclinical models (mice and NHPs) and clinical studies (humans) that helps us to understand and predict vaccine conferred protection in humans. The incumbent should possess a strong scientific curiosity and rigor and capable of working in highly competitive environment to generate results in timely manner to support drafting of technical reports and manuscript for publication internally and externally. The incumbent will be part of a dynamic team and should possess a strong work ethic and collaborative spirit. The incumbent will work closely with the manager, project teams, supporting lines and sub team members to drive the design and execution of experiments, and take a "hands on" role to support laboratory activities .

How You Will Achieve It
  • Develop, establish, and execute novel immunological assays based on Luminex and flow cytometry platform to measure immune response in serum, mucosal samples, and cellular preparations from preclinical and clinical studies.
  • Supervise and perform ELISpot/FluoroSpot-based assays to measure cellular (B-cell and T-cell) immune response to vaccine candidates in preclinical and clinical studies.
  • Isolate PBMCs and specific immune cell populations from whole blood, spleen, and other cellular tissues from mice, cotton rats and humans.
  • Implement activities on immunological assays such as, cell culture, infectivity assay, hemagglutination inhibition assays, neutralization assays and ELISAs.
  • Perform RT-qPCR, western blot, immunofluorescence assay to evaluate vaccine candidates, and investigate/understand the mechanism for next generation protein/RNA vaccine candidates.
  • Generate/Prepare cells for NGS including RNA-sequencing, microarray and co-ordinate with partners externally and internally to process these samples to generate gene expression data.
  • Co-ordinate with colleagues across the matrix department within vaccine research unit and other units across Pfizer and with external partners to generate, analyze and interpret results in timely manner.
  • Mentor junior scientists' activities and provide technical guidance when necessary. Maintain high technical quality and initiate problem solving for all technical issues related to the area of expertise. Incumbent will analyze experimental data, draw conclusions, and propose future research plans.
  • Coordinate and communicate experimental results in a timely manner. Present experimental results at appropriate meetings with group members and senior management. Write progress reports and provide concise summaries of project status to team members and group leader.
  • Keep current on scientific and technical literature and attend relevant scientific meetings in order to apply new technologies and/or scientific principles.
  • The incumbent must be able to accommodate multiple projects or tasks and work efficiently on assigned research projects.
  • Satisfactorily complete all safety training in conformance with Departmental requirements. Where applicable, performs job responsibilities in compliance with cGMP/GLP and all other regulatory agency requirements.


QUALIFICATIONS

Must-Have
  • Ph.D in immunology/molecular biology with 0 - 3 years postdoctoral experience in infectious disease immunology in industrial or academic setting is necessary.
  • A strong background in immunology, molecular biology and virology is essential.
  • Experience of working with clinical study samples, serum, PBMCs, nasal samples and others to develop and execute immunological assays.
  • Deep knowledge and hands-on experience with in vitro immune cell models like human moDCs, mouse BMDCs and complex co-culture models.
  • Past experience and strong knowledge of preparing samples for microarray, RNA seq analysis and other NGS analysis working with internal and external partners in industry and academia.
  • Ability to work with bioinformaticians for analysis and compilation of immunological and gene expression profiles from clinical samples to derive potential immune correlate of protection.
  • Highly organized, detail oriented, and ability to multitask different experiments to make an efficient use of the samples available.
  • Industry experience and hands-on serological and immune cell-based immunological method development is a plus
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills


Nice-to-Have

  • PhD and 3+ years of relevant experience in immunology, virology and/or molecular biology
  • Extensive experience in infectious agents like viruses and bacteria, or related fields, and a desire to continue in a laboratory-focused role
  • Hands-on experience in analyzing the gene expression data and NGS analysis


PHYSICAL/MENTAL REQUIREMENTS
  • Basic laboratory training in aseptic technique is essential.
  • Ability to work safely with human, mice, NHP and other animals tissue samples and infectious agents.
  • The capacity to work independently and effectively in highly visible research programs with time-constrained milestones.


OTHER JOB DETAILS

Eligible for Relocation Package

Eligible for Employee Referral Bonus

Pfizer requires all U.S. new hires to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 prior to the first date of employment. As required by applicable law, Pfizer will consider requests for Reasonable Accommodations.

Sunshine Act

Pfizer reports payments and other transfers of value to health care providers as required by federal and state transparency laws and implementing regulations. These laws and regulations require Pfizer to provide government agencies with information such as a health care provider's name, address and the type of payments or other value received, generally for public disclosure. Subject to further legal review and statutory or regulatory clarification, which Pfizer intends to pursue, reimbursement of recruiting expenses for licensed physicians may constitute a reportable transfer of value under the federal transparency law commonly known as the Sunshine Act. Therefore, if you are a licensed physician who incurs recruiting expenses as a result of interviewing with Pfizer that we pay or reimburse, your name, address and the amount of payments made currently will be reported to the government. If you have questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact your Talent Acquisition representative.

EEO & Employment Eligibility

Pfizer is committed to equal opportunity in the terms and conditions of employment for all employees and job applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or gender expression, national origin, disability or veteran status. Pfizer also complies with all applicable national, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act and IRCA. Pfizer is an E-Verify employer.

Research and Development

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