Principal Research Scientist, Bioinformatics

Since 2013, AbbVie has expanded its commitment to the San Francisco Bay Area with the consolidation of three Bay Area facilities to a new Bay Area headquarters in South San Francisco. AbbVie employees in the Bay Area drive AbbVie’s research-based, innovation driven missions in healthcare. Specifically, Bay Area employees bring deep scientific expertise and commercial excellence to advance cancer care. Current oncology areas of focus include immuno-oncology, tumor targeting, tumor dependency and precision medicine. With facilities positioned in the heart of the biotechnology industry, we are able to collaborate with the best and brightest minds in oncology.

• General Position Summary/Purpose:

  • Contribute to multiple stages of development of targeted molecules by supporting the implementation of scientifically driven development plans, primarily on setting up the strategy and executing on bioinformatics analysis of biomarkers of interest for various projects.
  • Develop, maintain, and refine bioinformatics workflows and analytical tools for clinical biomarker data analyses. Current focus of this position is primarily on leading bioinformatics for clinical development.
  • Practical knowledge of bioinformatics tools and resources, experience with next generation sequencing (NGS) data, various high-throughput omics analysis pipeline development, integrative omics data and cloud computing, and background in genomics and molecular biology.
  • Practical knowledge and leadership experiences in designing, strategic planning and execution of patient stratification strategy and companion diagnostics development, especially in terms of biomarker data package submission to regulatory agencies.
  • As a member of our bioinformatics group working with other research scientists and clinicians in a highly collaborative and dynamic environment to support biomarker investigations and translational medicine.

   

  Key Accountabilities/Core Job Responsibilities:

  • Providing appropriate experimental design and biospecimen sampling scheme, molecular data analysis strategy and statistical support to identify mechanisms of action or resistance for therapeutics, identification of novel targets and candidate biomarkers for various programs and projects and other research and clinical objectives.
  • Working with standard bioinformatics tools, visualization packages, and omics databases/annotations resources.
  • Developing and using bioinformatics pipelines to prepare and analyze data, working closely with data engineers and methodology development group in pipeline developments.
  • Analyzing and working with NGS data, ideally exome sequence data and other omics data etc.
  • Interpreting and translating data to biological knowledge.
  • Participating in cross-company multidisciplinary teams for discovery, preclinical, and clinical development, biomarker and translational research.
  • Presenting in internal and cross-company group meetings and external scientific meetings.
     

   

   

Qualifications/Experience:

• Expertise and experiences in experimental designs and biomarker driven clinical trial designs.
• 12+ years of experiences in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology supporting clinical projects or drug development, preferably in Biotech and/or Pharma industry.
• Demonstrated fluency in UNIX/Linux computing environment.
• Proficiency in R programming, other programming skills such as in C/C++ and a scripting language such as Perl or Python would be desirable.
• Familiarity with SAS, JMP or JMP Genomics, OmicSoft ArraySuite are a plus.
• Excellent working knowledge of current best practices in genetic variant discovery and validation methods.
• Strong organizational, written, and communication skills.
• Excellent analytical and problem solving abilities.
• A proven track record in scientific publications and invited presentations at major conferences on biomarker correlative studies in clinical trials.
• Knowledge of cellular and molecular biology, oncology, and drug development processes.
• Enjoys working in a fast paced and highly collaborative dynamic environment with a diverse team to tackle complex problems.
• Eager to learn and think outside the box.
• Is disciplined and driven to deliver ongoing research results.
• Has a positive attitude with a willingness to roll up their sleeves and do what it takes to get the job done.
• Is highly organized and detail oriented.
• Is a strong written and verbal communicator.
• Has a hard work ethic with emphasis on execution.

Education Requirements (degree, certifications, etc.): Include must have and preferred

PhD in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Statistical Genetics/Genomics, Computer Science, Statistics/Biostatistics with strong molecular biology background, and industry experience preferred.

Preferred Skills/Abilities

• Experiences in developing therapeutics for oncology or immunology or immune-oncology
• Strong understanding and proven track record in genomics/genetics technology and applications to clinical development.