Immunology Scientist (Senior Scientist I / Senior Scientist II DOE)

OMass Therapeutics is an early-stage drug discovery company, applying its unique OdyssION™ technology platform, which comprises novel biochemistry techniques, next-generation native mass spectrometry and custom chemistry to discover small molecule therapeutics for rare diseases and immunological conditions.

The company was founded by Professor Dame Carol Robinson to leverage her pioneering work in native mass spectrometry, in studies of dynamic protein assemblies, to characterise challenging drug targets including membrane proteins. The high resolution of our biophysical platform offers an unprecedented advantage in the detection of drug leads. The company vision is to build an integrated drug discovery company, with the ambition to develop and ultimately commercialise our products.

With state-of-the-art laboratories OMass is able to perform high resolution native mass spectrometry measurements, pharmacological studies, chemical computational analysis and more recently high-resolution structure determination, including crystallography and cryo-EM. Our expert pharmacology team drives compound profiling and mechanism of action studies using cutting edge assay technologies ranging from biochemical through to primary human cell phenotypic assays. The team plays a central role in all programs from target validation through to candidate selection.

Headquartered in Oxford, UK, OMass has raised over $150M (£119M) from a top-tier international investor syndicate, including Syncona, Oxford Science Enterprises, GV, Northpond Ventures, and Sanofi Ventures. This is an excellent time to join our dynamic growing company.

OMass Therapeutics is inviting applications for the position of Senior Immunology Scientist to work within the Pharmacology team. The company offers a collaborative and innovative environment for a well-suited candidate to become an integral part of our future vision.

The successful candidate will be an independent and agile thinker who can define and establish cell-based assays to support both ongoing drug discovery projects as well as target validation experiments for our candidate targets.

Applications to be received by 9am, 5th September 2022 (BST)

Essential Experience, Skills and Qualities
• PhD or equivalent in Immunology, or related discipline.
• Strong background knowledge in innate immunity and interrogating signalling pathways relevant to innate immunity with a focus on inflammasome and TLR signalling.
• Track record of developing and validating mammalian cell-based assays to study molecular pathways relevant to immunology and inflammation.
• Experience in flow cytometry and with multi-mode plate readers.
• Experience of isolating and working with primary human blood-derived immune cells.
• Experience culturing and handling various immune cell lines.
• Innovative and ambitious mindset to develop and implement new technologies and protocols, with an inquisitive and agile approach to problem-solving and overcoming technical challenges.
• Focused to work independently and collaboratively as part of a multidisciplinary team, with the ability to prioritise and deliver high quality work to deadlines.
• Excellent interpersonal, collaborative and communication skills, both written and verbal, to thrive in a highly collaborative environment respectful and receptive to others’ diverse ideas, experience and perspectives.
• Motivated to continuously learn and take on challenges in the pursuit of delivering novel therapeutics.

Preferred Experience and Skills
• Experience in pharmaceutical/biotech industry
• Experience in either GPCRs, solute carriers or inflammasome biology
• Experience of working with CROs to outsource biology

Role Responsibilities
• Contribute to target identification activities by designing and performing bespoke experiments to investigate target involvement in disease pathology
• Isolation of primary human blood-derived inflammatory cells
• Culturing, differentiation and activation of various immune cell lines
• Assessment of cell activation using flow cytometry
• Measurement of cytokine release using ELISA and fluorescent-based assay formats
• Population and single cell imaging of cell markers using plate-based systems
• Assessment of compound potency using a variety of cellular functional readouts
• Contribute to planning and management of outsourced in vivo experiments, including direct interactions with CROs
• Exercising committed compliance to company policies, including reliable and timely recording of data into company databases
• Share information openly and work collaboratively with other departments to help advance different projects and achieve company goals.
• Promote and adhere to OMass’ values of being Ambitious, Responsible, Innovative, Focused, Caring and Collaborative.

Job Type: Full-time, Permanent
Location: Oxford / Nottingham (to be discussed)
Salary: Competitive salary and comprehensive employee benefits

OMass Therapeutics values diversity and is committed to equality of opportunity, we also have full responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to work and live in the UK.