Postdoctoral Fellow-Vaccine-induced Immune Durability Full-time

Postdoctoral Fellow Immune Durability

Pfizer's purpose is to deliver breakthroughs that change patients' lives. Research and Development (R&D) is at the heart of fulfilling Pfizer's purpose as we work to translate advanced science and technologies into the therapies and vaccines that matter most. As a post-doctoral scientist in the Vaccines organization, you will apply cutting edge technologies to accelerate and bring the best-in-class and safe medicines to patients around the world.

What You Will Achieve

As a postdoctoral fellow, you will be part of the Cellular Mediated Immunity (CMI) & Immune Profiling group within the Viral Vaccines team. You will collaborate with multi-disciplinary and talented scientists towards development of assays to predict immune response durability prior to human clinical trials and investigate the mechanisms of early vaccine-elicited signals related to antibody longevity. Your goals will be:

• Establish in vivo systems using mice and/or non-human primates (NHPs) as models to test different vaccine platforms and candidates to investigate biomarkers of antibody durability.
• Analyze transcriptomic data to establish correlations between gene expression signatures and immunological readouts.
• Test mechanistic hypothesis in in vitro experiments and/or murine interventions to further define the mechanisms of plasma cell and plasmablast longevity.

Your strong foundation in immunology, molecular biology and immune profiling techniques including bulk and single cell RNA sequencing, as well as in vitro cell culture techniques, and related principles and concepts will enable you to assess the assigned tasks and design approaches that involve direct application of your knowledge.

It is your dedication, innovative ideas, and focus that will help in making Pfizer ready to achieve new milestones and help combating infectious diseases across the globe.

How You Will Achieve It

• Driving innovation, independent thinking, literature research, problem solving, and meticulous design, execution and interpretation of experiments under minimal supervision.
• Collaborating with multi-disciplinary, investigative vaccines teams and working closely with the In Vivo, Serology and Data Science teams assessing immunological readouts using various platforms (including MultiOmics).
• Work with mentors, develop and apply complex assays for exploring translatable gene expression signatures through bulk and single cell RNA sequencing that can serve as biomarkers.
• Present the research work at various internal and external meetings and conferences and publish in relevant peer-reviewed journals.
• Contribute to building a culture that embraces scientific excellence, urgency, partnerships with key stakeholders, continuous learning and improvement, increasing technical skill base and immunology expertise.
• Ensure all tasks and responsibilities are carried out according to scientific, ethical and regulatory standards.

Qualifications

Must-Have

• Ph.D. in Immunology, Virology, Molecular Biology, Computational Immunology or related fields. No more than 2 years of post-degree experience.
• Demonstrated experience in diverse cellular, biochemical and molecular laboratory techniques with strong background in immunology.
• Experience using flow cytometry techniques as well as flow cytometry analysis software such as FlowJo and/or OMIQ, as well as GraphPad, Excel analysis software.
• Knowledge and hands-on experience in sequencing techniques including RNA isolation, library preparation and RNA sequencing.
• Experience in analyzing “omics” data (genomics, transcriptomics, single cell RNAseq, etc.) for biomedical research.
• Well organized, self-motivated, team-oriented with ability to multitask with high attention to detail.
• Strong collaborative spirit and communication skills.
• Successful record of scientific accomplishments as indicated by scientific publications and/or presentations. At least one first-author publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
• Willingness to make a minimum 2-year commitment.

Nice-to-Have

• Working knowledge of programming languages such as R or Python.
• Experience with animal models including NHPs in desirable but not required.
• Hands-on knowledge and experience with single-cell RNA sequencing platforms (10x, inDrop, Drop-Seq, etc.)

Other Job Details

Must have work authorization in the US. Work Location Assignment: On Premise

The annual base salary for this position ranges from $62,700.00 to $104,500.00. In addition, this position is eligible for participation in Pfizer's Global Performance Plan with a bonus target of 7.5% of the base salary. We offer comprehensive and generous benefits and programs to help our colleagues lead healthy lives and to support each of life's moments. Benefits offered include a 401(k) plan with Pfizer Matching Contributions and an additional Pfizer Retirement Savings Contribution, paid vacation, holiday and personal days, paid caregiver/parental and medical leave, and health benefits to include medical, prescription drug, dental and vision coverage.

Relocation assistance may be available based on business needs and/or eligibility.