Summer Internship, Neurodegeneration-In Vivo Pharmacology

Arvinas is a clinical-stage biotechnology company leading the way in targeted protein degradation therapeutics. Arvinas is the first company to focus solely on protein degradation and its platform technology is the most advanced in the field. Since its founding in 2013, Arvinas’ PROTAC® Discovery Engine has been driving the most significant breakthroughs in the industry. Arvinas’ pipeline encompasses a range of validated and undruggable targets in oncology, immuno-oncology, and neuroscience. This includes three clinical-stage programs: bavdegalutamide (ARV-110) and ARV-766, which are being developed as potential treatments for men with late-line metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer, and ARV-471, which is being co-developed and commercialized by Arvinas and Pfizer as a potential treatment for patients with breast cancer.

#TeamArvinas is made up of more than 400 passionate and curious employees, whose diverse thoughts and perspectives are highly valued. Arvinas employees embrace the freedom to pursue innovation, think creatively, and give back. They are driven by the company’s values and mission – to improve the lives of patients with serious diseases by pioneering therapies created with our revolutionary PROTAC® protein degradation platform. We’re really excited about the work we’re doing inside and outside of Arvinas, and think you will be, too. But don’t just take our word for it – learn more about life at Arvinas and what employees have to say. For more information, please visit www.arvinas.com.

Position Summary

This is an exciting opportunity to work with our growing Neuroscience team. This is a laboratory-based role, where your focus will be to develop, implement and execute innovative approaches to investigate mechanisms of protein degradation that will translate to novel drugs for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. The Neuroscience team is seeking a motivated and technically skilled student majoring in neuroscience or related biological sciences. The student should have strong interest in neuroscience and learning about CNS drug discovery and development. This position will focus on ex vivo assay development to help build pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic relationships to advance PROTAC degrader molecules.

This full-time, summer position reports into a Research Scientist, and will be located at our headquarters in New Haven, CT.

Principal Responsibilities

The Student will be trained by an Arvinas neuroscience Mentor in the basic day-to-day processes that support preclinical drug discovery for neurology indications. Through experiential learning, the Student will become proficient in basic principles of pharmacology as well as how to design, coordinate, execute, and analyze in vivo pharmacology experiments.

Key responsibilities of this role include, but are not limited to:

• Learn selected basic biology techniques from Arvinas staff with the goal of proficiency to the point of independently following detailed protocols to support in vivo pharmacology.

Techniques Including:   

• Processing of tissue samples from disease-relevant brain regions for protein quantification using bioassay & pharmacokinetic analysis
• Protein analysis by Western blot and JESS/WES capillary electrophoresis
• MSD immunoassay-based quantitation from disease models
• Quantification and statistical analysis of in vivo endpoints using Graphpad Prism

• Document experimental work in an Electronic Laboratory Notebook & learn associated ELN protocols
• Attend project meetings and internal seminars at direction of Mentor
• Read and present key papers from relevant scientific literature at Student Journal Club
• Present their work at end-of-term Summer Student colloquium

Qualifications

• Goal-oriented and adept to a fast-paced learning environment
• Able to work independently and communicate progress or challenges effectively.
• Open to constructive feedback and willingness to freely ask questions.
• Prior lab-based or independent research experiences a plus, but not required.

Education

• Current academic student enrolled in undergraduate degree program with a concentration in neuroscience, biology, or related scientific field.
• Previous coursework related to neuroscience, cell biology, and/or pharmacology.

Arvinas is proud to offer a competitive package of base and incentive compensation as well as a comprehensive benefits program designed to support the health, wellness and financial security of our employees and their families. Benefits include group medical, vision and dental coverage, group and supplemental life insurance, and much more. To learn more about Arvinas, please visit www.arvinas.com

Arvinas is an Equal Opportunity employer