Scientist I, Genomic Technology – NGS

About AbbVie
AbbVie’s mission is to discover and deliver innovative medicines that solve serious health issues today and address the medical challenges of tomorrow. We strive to have a remarkable impact on people’s lives across several key therapeutic areas: immunology, oncology, neuroscience, eye care, virology, women’s health and gastroenterology, in addition to products and services across its Allergan Aesthetics portfolio. For more information about AbbVie, please visit us at www.abbvie.com. Follow @abbvie on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.

AbbVie is actively harnessing the power of human genetics and genomics to drive drug discovery and development. In the past several years, we’ve made multiple investments in internal capabilities and external partnerships with leading academic groups and technology companies. In 2016 we created an internal research group, the AbbVie Genomics Research Center (GRC) within Discovery R&D. The GRC is a single organization that supports and drives genomics and genetics research across AbbVie R&D. The GRC has core capabilities and research efforts in Genomic Technologies, Functional Genomics, Computational Genomics, Human Disease Genetics, Pharmacogenetics, and has dedicated support for IT infrastructure. The core mission of the group is to apply genomics and genetics research to target discovery, target validation, translational research, and design and analysis of clinical trials.

The GRC Genomic Technologies Group (G-Tech) supports AbbVie preclinical and clinical research teams by applying genomic profiling technologies with the goal of improving the success rates for drug discovery and development. We apply genomic profiling technologies to identify and validate targets and biomarkers, improve understanding of preclinical models and candidate drug molecules, select/stratify patients and understand patient responses in AbbVie clinical trials. The GRC is seeking to hire TWO technical and scientific experts in Next-Generation-Sequencing (NGS) to support existing validated genomic profiling pipelines and to expand genomic profiling capabilities. The successful candidates will work closely with NGS technical leads and be responsible for carrying out high-throughput end-to-end NGS experiments and communicating results to stakeholders and collaborators. (S)he will also help drive efforts to expand genomic profiling capabilities or custom NGS assays to serve unmet needs.

Key Responsibilities:

• Act as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) and independent contributor working with AbbVie Genomic Research Center (GRC) stakeholders and AbbVie therapeutic area (TA) scientists to meet the genomic profiling needs from active studies. Collaborate on experiment design, execution, and analysis to deliver high quality results under agreed upon timelines.
• Process and perform various end-to-end validated NGS workflows derived from starting materials such as, whole blood, tissues and cells. Perform initial data QC and first pass analysis of results. Closely work with NGS technical leads and partner with bioinformatics specialists and disease area scientists to interpret results and design follow up experiments.
• Operate and maintain NGS and its supportive platforms within centralized technology group. Prepare written summaries of experimental results and verbally present at team meetings.
• Effectively communicate with stakeholders, especially around experimental design, troubleshooting, and responding to changes in priorities and adjusting timelines.
• Successful candidates will work with either NGS Operations or Assay Development team based on qualifications and experiences, and initially report to the Group Leader of G-Tech. Depends on future teams’ need and independency, they may report to NGS Operations Lead or Assay Development Lead.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent education and typically 5 years of experience, Master’s Degree or equivalent education and typically 2 years of experience in molecular biology, genomic sciences or a related field.
• Demonstrated record of high proficiency across a wide range of hands-on experience (minimum 3+ years) and deep technical knowledge of high-throughput genomic profiling technologies with emphasis on NGS platforms and library preparation workflows including: WGS, WES, targeted DNAseq, RNAseq, and related QC technologies.
• Experience being part of a centralized high-throughput genomic technology group is highly desirable. Industry experience is preferred but willing to consider individuals with equivalent years of experience in academic or non-industry research core lab settings.
• High attention to detail, self-motivated, critical thinking, strong written and verbal communication skills, ability to work independently and as part of a big team, passion to cutting edge and complex emerging technologies.
• Ability to work in fast-paced, dynamic environment and to independently and help other team members carry forward multiple projects in parallel.

Significant Work Activities
Continuous sitting for prolonged periods (more than 2 consecutive hours in an 8 hour day)
Travel
No
Job Type
Experienced
Schedule
Full-time
Job Level Code
IC
Equal Employment Opportunity
At AbbVie, we value bringing together individuals from diverse backgrounds to develop new and innovative solutions for patients. As an equal opportunity employer we do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy), physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, protected veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristic.