Toxicologist

Role : Toxicologist

Reports to : Head of DMPK

Department : Drug Discovery

About Cerevance

Cerevance is a neuroscience focused drug discovery company dedicated to finding innovative new medicines for debilitating CNS disorders. The company’s powerful NETSseq platform profiles cell-type specific gene expression from human brain post-mortem tissue in health and disease with the aim of identifying novel targets for drug discovery. We have a pipeline of novel discovery- and clinical-stage compounds, including CVN424 which achieved positive trial data in its phase 2 for Parkinson’s disease and CVN766, for psychiatric disorders, in phase 1. The strong preclinical pipeline includes programs with potential for disease modification in Alzheimer’s, ALS, and Parkinson’s disease. We are looking to expand our team of proven drug discovery and development scientists with the recruitment of an experienced toxicologist.

Cerevance is located in Cambridge, UK and Boston, MA, USA. The position will be based in Cambridge, UK laboratories.
This position is an excellent opportunity for a self-motivated safety/toxicology expert who is keen to provide leadership and supervision of preclinical safety assessments.

Key responsibilities

The individual will lead the preclinical safety risk assessments of lead molecules in vitro and in vivo across all stages of Cerevance’s pipeline. They will be responsible for overseeing the performance of preclinical safety studies, including study designs and negotiations leading to the selection of appropriate CROs. The sucessful candidate will also be responsible for the quality of reports and inclusion of data into regulatory documents. They will be integrated in a team of scientists from related disciplines such as DMPK, pharmacology and clinical teams, sharing their research with other staff members on a regular basis. They will also have access to a team of expert consultants to support preclinical and clinical studies.

Requirements

Candidates should have a graduate degree and ideally a PhD. with significant experience in advancing small-molecules through registration-enabling safety studies (including rodent and non-rodent GLP studies, safety pharmacology and genotoxicity assessments). Experience with CNS drugs is highly advantageous. The candidate will have a proven track record in industry, a network of CROs who can perform toxicity assessments and experience with designing toxicology studies. A meticulous attention to detail and the ability to work according to regulatory guidelines is essential. In addition, either experience of the bioanalytical requirements for toxicity and safety studies or a knowledge of in vivo efficacy models would be of benefit.

Beyond toxicology, the candidate should bring excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to multi task and be keen to collaborate with other team members.

Cerevance offers a competitive salary and benefits package.