Viral Vector Scientist / Senior Scientist

Viral Vector Scientist / Senior Scientist

Full-Time position
Location: Onsite (Philadelphia)
Start date: Open

Why Join Verismo?

Our team is small but driven, with the single focus of bringing life-changing cell therapies to patients with cancer. With a solid pipeline built around a novel KIR-CAR platform, our technology has found a way to circumvent the barriers in solid cancer where other CAR therapies have limited success. KIR-CARs eliminate the artificial chimeric constructs within T cells and instead use a natural NK-cell derived signaling system. This system is potent against both hematologic and solid tumors, and in preclinical models is superior to current CAR-T in conferring long-term sustained anti-tumor function to overcome the challenges posed in solid cancer. We have a strong team for CMC, clinical product manufacture, and clinical investigators already established and moving fast to bring KIR-CARs to patients in need.

Our company is comprised of individuals who each bring something unique to the table and are valued for their contributions. Our culture is based on the concept of ‘love what you do’ and the dedication that builds a team where people do their best and support one another. Because we believe our people are our greatest asset, career development is an important aspect of our investment in our team and we encourage work/life balance.

About the Position:

We are seeking a highly motivated Viral Vector Scientist/Senior Scientist to lead development of viral vector workflow to support our KIR-CAR T cell therapies. We are looking for an experienced researcher to join our team as a Project Lead/Scientist or Senior Scientist in Viral vector development, and build the viral vector workflow in-house. The candidate will be independently conducting vector design, development, and characterization and ensuring Quality/Data Integrity are preserved in preparation to support cell therapy platform. This role will also be fluent in communicating with our internal or external scientific collaborators. The candidate will report directly to our Executive Director of Translational Science and need to coordinate with other R&D scientists, PD/AD team, and other functional leads, executing experiments and maintaining timelines for discovery studies. This individual will also contribute science studies across R&D functions including preclinical and translational research when needed. The candidate will be a team player who is responsible for managing Verismo Therapeutics’ internal and sometimes external scientific projects and collaborations. The candidate will work in a fast-paced environment.

Job Summary:

• Independently design, test and characterize lentiviral and retroviral vectors (50%)
• Evaluate and implement innovate approaches to optimize viral vectors to support KIR-CAR cell therapy platform (30%)
• Serves as SME to facilitate technology transfer to PD/AD team (20%)

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, and characterize lentiviral and retroviral vectors to support KIR-CAR programs.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to troubleshoot technical issues and improve vector productivity, quality, and performance.
• Design and execute experiments, analyze data, and present findings to internal teams and external collaborators.
• Author and maintain technical documents, including protocols, reports, and SOPs.
• Serve as a subject matter expert (SME) for viral vector development and provide technical support to Research, Process Development, and Analytical Development teams.
• Maintain accurate and timely documentation of experimental work and research findings.
• Stay current with advances in viral vector and cell therapy technologies and apply new knowledge to ongoing projects.
• Provide scientific leadership, mentorship, and supervision to junior team members.
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Qualification Requirements:

• A Master’s or PhD degree in Microbiology, Virology, Molecular Biology, infectious Disease or related field, with a minimal of five years of relevant experience in academic or industrial setting.
• In-depth understanding of virus-mediated gene delivery.
• Industry experience is highly preferred.
• Demonstrated expertise in molecular cloning, lentiviral vector design, development, and characterization is required.
• Hands-on experience with aseptic technique and primary cell culture.
• Significant experience with working in a team setting.
• Proven track record of delivering quality in the work.
• Well organized and has good experience in designing and documenting protocols and data generated from them in an industry setting.
• Is willing to take other duties as assigned.
• Outstanding communication skills.

Key Competencies:

• Strong analytical mindset with a proactive approach to problem-solving
• Strong attention to detail with a commitment to documentation and compliance best practices
• Collaborative, team-oriented attitude
• Clear and effective written and verbal communication skills 
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, evolving startup environment