Scientist I

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 SCIENTIST I to join the AskBio team!

About the role:

We are seeking an outstanding molecular biology engineer for a Scientist I position. This role is for a hands-on, lab-based research scientist with technical expertise in the field of 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. You would be responsible for understanding project goals and for creatively optimizing solutions to ensure their success.

Responsibilities & Accountabilities

• Design methods and technologies that may directly support a project or streamline our platform
• Technology development examples may include but are not limited to:
• Combinatorial library cloning to produce, and screen enhanced synthetic AAV capsids in high throughput
• Medium throughput assays to validate performance of synthetic capsids in vivo
• RNA/DNA target-sequence enrichment strategies for in vivo transduction measurement
• New and improved ITR and transgene expression constructs
• Implementing such methods may require but are not limited to:
• NGS sample preparation procedures
• Advanced cloning at very high efficiencies
• Work with cultured cells, as well as tissues
• Share recommendations and insight for pipeline improvement toward higher throughput and efficiency
• Collaborate with a diverse team of wet-lab scientists, protein engineers, and computational scientists
• Assist in lab organization, including ordering supplies and restocking

About you:

• PhD in biology, biochemistry, biomedical engineering, or a related field
• 5+ years hands-on wet lab experience
• Established experience in advanced cloning techniques (Type IIs, Gateway, Gibson, etc.)
• Expertise in DNA/RNA analysis and tittering protocols (qPCR, RT-qPCR, etc.)
• Skilled in sequence design and analysis software, e.g., BLAST, Geneious, Benchling, etc.
• Strong collaborative, organizational and presentation skills
• Perform protein analysis (ELISA, IHC, Western blot, Immunofluorescence, Immunoprecipitation, etc.)
• Ability to document, maintain and share an organized account of lab work and results
• 2+ years post PhD experience
• Background in AAV research (or additional viruses)
• Experience in mammalian cell culture (transfection, transduction)
• Experience with cell and tissue analysis - staining, FACS, cell-sorting, imaging, histology, microscopy, etc.
• Experience in animal studies
• Skilled in protein analysis methods - SDS-PAGE, Bradford, ELISA, Western blots (FLAG, HIS, HA)
• Experience with digital droplet PCR