Senior Associate Scientist | Molecular Biology

About us:

Asklepios BioPharmaceutical, Inc. (AskBio) is a privately held, clinical-stage gene therapy company founded in 2001 based on the work of adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy pioneers, Jude Samulski, PhD, and Xiao Xiao, PhD. We are driven to change lives with every clinical advancement and turn hope into cures with new possibilities for genetic medicine. We currently have clinical trials ongoing for late-onset Pompe disease and congestive heart failure.

AskBio is headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, a thriving biotechnology hub, and has additional research and development facilities in Edinburgh, Scotland, and gene therapy manufacturing in San Sebastian, Spain.

We are excited for our next SENIOR ASSOCIATE SCIENTIST- Molecular Biology to join the AskBio team!

About the role:

We are seeking an outstanding molecular biology engineer for a Senior Associate Scientist position. This role is for a hands-on, lab-based research scientist with technical expertise in protein engineering, molecular biology and molecular virology. The candidate will be responsible for optimizing the molecular design and the characterization of our proteins and rAAV capsids. The candidate will function in a highly collaborative, highly cross-functional environment and be interacting with material scientists, biochemists, and molecular biologists. The candidate must have excellent organizational and interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate effectively across functional units.

The Senior Associate Scientist will be involved in novel AAV capsid discovery, screening AAV variant libraries in small and large animals and engineering capsids for desired properties. This is an ideal position for an individual with extensive hands-on cellular and molecular expertise, who has a can-do attitude and strong work ethic, and thrives in a team-oriented, fast-paced, and cross-disciplinary start-up biotech environment.

Responsibilities and Accountabilities

• Molecular cloning and prepare rAAV constructs or AAV capsid libraries
• Perform plasmid purification by miniprep and maxiprep
• Maintain and culture mammalian cell lines, perform transient transfection for gene expression or AAV vector production at a small or medium scale
• Perform AAV vector purification, evaluate AAV vector quality by qPCR and silver staining.
• Process animal specimens for genomic DNA and RNA extraction
• Characterize transgene expression in cells and animal tissues using different molecular techniques
• Execute and troubleshoot standard protocols, adapt new protocols into practice
• Maintain electronic laboratory notebooks, write study reports, and present data to the team
• Skilled in protein analysis methods - SDS-PAGE, Bradford, ELISA, Western blots (FLAG, HIS, HA)

About you:

• A minimum of a bachelor's degree with 1-3 years of lab or industry experience and hands-on experience in molecular biology techniques (RNA/DNA isolation, molecular cloning, plasmid purification, Western blotting, qPCR, RT-qPCR, ELISA)
• Ability to design and execute experiments, analyze and present the results
• Ability to be highly productive in a fluid, fast-paced and team-oriented environment
• Outstanding problem-solving skills and ability to handle multiple tasks in parallel
• Self-motivated, ability to work collaboratively, highly organized with attention to detail
• Excellent communication and presentation skills