Senior Scientist, Cell Therapy Research, Molecular Immunobiology and Discovery Team (In vivo CAR-T) Full-time

Senior Scientist, Cell Therapy Research, Molecular Immunobiology and Discovery Team (In vivo CAR-T)

At Bristol Myers Squibb, our employees often ask, “Who are you working for?”—a question that fuels collaboration, accountability, and urgency in our work. Our purpose-driven culture inspires us to discover, develop, and deliver innovative medicines to prevail over serious diseases. We offer uniquely interesting and meaningful work, opportunities for growth, and a supportive environment that values inclusion, wellbeing, flexibility, and comprehensive benefits. This is work that transforms the lives of patients, and the careers of those who do it.

The Cell Therapy Thematic Research Center is one of BMS's differentiated research platforms delivering innovative therapies to patients. Our mission is to drive leadership in the use of cellular therapies to harness the power of the immune system in treating hematologic malignancies, solid cancers, and autoimmune disease. More specifically, our discovery and translational scientists are focused on developing next-generation, engineered cell-based therapies. The team is committed to discovering and developing transformative therapies that harness the power of the immune system to improve patient outcomes.

Position Summary: The Cell Therapy Molecular Immunobiology and Discovery team is seeking a highly motivated, dynamic and self-driven individual to help us build out our molecular engineering and gene delivery capabilities. Effective delivery of optimal cargo will be the foundation of our next generation of cell therapies. Innovations in this space will drive the future of our cellular therapeutic pipeline at BMS, enabling us to bring best-in-class engineered drugs to our patients. This role will primarily focus on developing and validating technologies to efficiently generate potent CAR-T cells. The ideal candidate is an experienced molecular biologist and lentivirologist with a strong background in immunology. They will have a conceptual and practical understanding of CAR-T cell biology, and knowledge of key challenges related to lentiviral vector transgene delivery in vitro and in vivo. This role will provide a challenging but rewarding opportunity for career development and is ideal for a scientist with an innovative mindset. Previous experience in cellular therapy, industry or academic, is preferred.

Position Responsibilities:

In the role as a Senior Scientist within the Molecular Immunobiology and Discovery Team, the ideal candidate will be responsible for, but not limited to:

• Plan and implement critical studies required for platform building and hypothesis-driven research for building the next generation lentiviral vectors
• Apply extensive knowledge of lentiviral vector biology to develop and execute creative strategies for increasing yield, throughput, and the robust streamlined assessment of novel lentiviral vector platforms
• Interface with immunologists to interpret and enable science-driven decision making related to aspects of T-cell activation pathways, antigen-specific differentiation, and CAR-T cell phenotype to assess different lentiviral vector cargo and delivery strategies
• Strong ability to interpret and synthesize information from complex datasets, both published and internal within BMS
• Provide scientific and technical insights on cross-functional assignments related to the evaluation of lentiviral vectors
• Provide recommendations on department-level strategic decisions
• Act as a functional advisor to team members, especially to more junior colleagues
• Design experiments, organize and analyze results and communicate progress to the group to enable efficient Go/No Go decisions.
• Work with other team members and team leaders to enable adoption of novel methods and designs in ongoing programs.

Experience:

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree
• 7+ years of academic/industry experience

Or

• Master's Degree
• 5+ years of academic/industry experience

Or

• Ph.D. or equivalent advanced degree in the Life Sciences
• 2+ years of academic/industry experience

Preferred Qualifications:

• Expertise with lentiviral vectors and their use in engineering T-cells
• Technical expertise with lentiviral vector related functional assays; including various means of titration, multi-parameter flow cytometry, and assessment of protein expression.
• Familiarity with in vitro technologies typically employed to assess T cell functionality including but not limited to MSD, IncuCyte-based cytolytic function assays, T cell activation assays, T cell proliferation analysis, imaging.
• Self-motivated and focused with project management-oriented thinking including timelining of key deliverables and dependencies
• Strong organizational skills to ensure thorough and timely documentation of experiments and preparation of data for clear presentation to program stakeholders and decision-makers
• Detail-oriented with a discerning eye on data interpretation, presentation, and assay trouble-shooting
• Strong interpersonal skills and willingness to collaborate within cross-functional teams; skilled at listening to and coordinating with colleagues in a matrixed environment
• Ability to multitask, independently organize time, and plan specifics of work.
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills demonstrated in a team environment.
• Willingness to improvise, be pragmatic, and work in a very fast-paced environment with changing priorities
• Strategic supervisory experience with a passion to help guide direct reports to progress in their careers