Postdoctoral Scientist – Neurodegeneration Full-time

Postdoctoral Scientist — Neurodegeneration

Lilly Neuroscience NGTx is a pre-clinical development team based at the Seaport Innovation Center in Boston alongside Lilly's Boston Neurodegeneration group. The team develops and applies human iPSC-derived in vitro platforms to evaluate compound safety, potency, and efficacy across CNS therapeutic modalities. These platforms are a critical node in Lilly's neuroscience pre-clinical pipeline, supporting high-priority programs targeting amyloid forming proteins across Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and other neurodegenerative conditions. This postdoctoral position will extend the established tri-culture system into disease-relevant pathological contexts, creating a pharmacologically responsive platform for compound assessment in neurodegeneration.

The postdoctoral researcher will lead establishment of amyloid forming protein pathology models in a human iPSC-derived tri-culture system (neurons, astrocytes, microglia). They will also apply those disease-context models to assess therapeutic compound behavior across Lilly's neuroscience modalities. Specific responsibilities include:

• Establish seed and preformed fibril (PFF)-based pathology models in the iPSC tri-culture system for multiple amyloid forming proteins, characterizing seeding efficiency, aggregate formation, and timing parameters for each.
• Perform systematic mono- vs. co- vs. tri-culture comparisons to quantify the multicellular gain in neurotoxicity and neuroinflammatory responses across culture configurations.
• Characterize microglial activation and cytokine release profiles (multiplex MSD cytokine profiling) and neurotoxicity in response to pathological insults.
• Execute a systematic species-ranking study comparing aggregate forms of amyloid forming proteins (monomers, oligomers, and fibrillar preparations) for neurotoxic and neuroinflammatory potency in the human multicellular context.
• Evaluate publishable tool compounds (siRNAs, antibodies) and internal proprietary compounds for potency, cellular uptake, and safety in healthy vs. pathological tri-culture.
• Generate paired healthy vs. disease-context datasets to directly compare compound behavior, providing decision-support data for LRL neurodegeneration programs.
• Publish as first author and present findings at internal and external forums.

Basic Requirements:

• PhD in Neuroscience, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, or a closely related field.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience with iPSC culture and/or primary neuron culture systems.
• Prior experience with in vitro neurodegenerative disease modeling, including PFF seeding, protein aggregation assays, or amyloid forming protein biology.
• Qualified applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. Lilly will not provide support for or sponsor work authorization or visas for this role.

Additional Skills/Preferences:

• Experience with neuronal co- or tri-culture systems incorporating glia (astrocytes and/or microglia).
• Proficiency in high-content imaging, immunofluorescence (ICC-IF), and image analysis pipelines.
• Prior work with neuroinflammation assays, including multiplex cytokine profiling (e.g., MSD, Luminex).
• Experience with CNS therapeutic modality assessment (siRNAs, antibodies, or small molecules in cell-based assays).
• Proven ability to independently design, execute, and troubleshoot multi-parametric cell-based experiments.
• Demonstrated scientific productivity, including peer-reviewed publications.
• Strong collaborative instincts and interest in translational drug discovery in an industry setting.