RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, SENIOR - GLOBAL HEALTH DISCOVERY COLLABORATORY (GHDC0) ANTIBODY DYNAMICS

The Global Health Discovery Collaboratory (GHDC) Antibody Dynamics team at the Duke University Center for Human Systems Immunology (https://chsi.duke.edu/divisions/antibody-dynamics-and-immune-function) is seeking a detail-oriented scientist to fulfill a key role as Research Associate Sr. This position in the Biophysical Immunology group will play a leading role in planning, designing, and performing assays in two major areas of global health discovery research.

1. Epitope mapping, epitope binning and affinity landscape profiling of monoclonal antibodies, their derivatives engineered to aid developability and biologics candidates for therapeutics development targeted against diseases of global health importance.

2. Quantitating and assessing avidity of polyclonal antibodies elicited by pathogens or vaccination against global health pathogens including those that cause malaria and tuberculosis.

The study results generated by the person in this role will accelerate moving antibodies and other biologics candidates to clinic and will inform pre-clinical and human clinical trials for vaccines. The person in this role will also play a key role in assay development and standardization and in testing feasibility of novel methods.  This person must be very organized, possess excellent communication skills, have a high level of technical precision, be interested in assay development and optimization, enjoy working in a fast-paced lab environment with multiple priorities, and be able to work well as part of a team. 

Job functions include:

• Design and perform high throughput surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and bio-layer interferometry (BLI) assays to identify lead monoclonal antibody and other biologics candidates for therapeutics development.
• Perform comp lex and highly technical BLI and SPR assays in the laboratory to evaluate antibody dynamics in samples from clinical and preclinical vaccine trials. Carefully and accurately document assay conditions, results, and quality control findings and report them promptly to meet deadlines. 
• Play a key role in the development and standardization of new assays, participating in discussions of next steps for follow up assays and in assay design.
• Perform bio-layer interferometry (BLI), surface plasmon resonance (SPR), and other assays in the lab to develop new methods and protocols, optimize reagents, test various conditions, and determine feasibility of assays using novel antigens. 
• Perform data analysis, model data using computational tools, make presentation of findings to collaborators/funders and write summary, qualification and validation documents.
• Work with the laboratory and project managers to contribute to the overall effort for streamlining the workload, improve the efficiency of the Biophysical Immunology group, and contribute to the daily laboratory effort to adhere to Good Clinical Laboratory Practice (GCLP) guidelines. Lead writing new Standard Operating Procedures (SOP's) and editing/updating existing SOP's as needed.
• Train new and junior personnel on various assays that use SPR, BLI and other biophysical techniques. Provide help in troubleshooting SPR and BLI assays.
• Oversee to maintain laboratory and associated equipment in a clean, well-ordered, and functional manner.  Keep supplies on hand with a well-planned inventory and ordering system.   
• Maintain laboratory notebook in an orderly fashion for tracking experiments and results. Provide written updates of work each week.

Education, Skills, & Experience Requirements

• PhD in Biophysics, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Bioengineering or related field
• Strong background in biophysical and biochemical laboratory techniques
• Research experience in performing SPR/BLI assays.
• Must be able to manage multiple and rapidly changing priorities and have the ability to quickly learn new skills
• Must be detail-oriented and well organized with strong communication skills and the ability to work in a fast-paced interactive team environment.
• Experience in using Mathematica and R-studio packages and working in GMP/GCLP compliant laboratories will be a plus.
• Knowledge and interest or experience in humoral immunity will be a plus.

Minimum Qualifications
Education
See job description for education requirements.

Experience
See job description for requirements.

Interested applicants should submit an application at Duke Careers (https://careers.duke.edu/) and email resume to moses.sekaran@duke.edu

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