Cell Biologist

Basic qualifications: 

• PhD with relevant work experience or equivalent.

• Scientific: You will possess significant laboratory experience in tissue culture techniques (primary cultures and cell lines) and demonstrate experience across a range of cell imaging and analysis techniques that includes flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy.  Demonstration of a range of orthogonal biological techniques associated with the development, engineering and the in vitro and in vivo testing of cell and gene therapy therapeutics is essential.  This should include either the cell biology to support the development of engineered chimeric antigen receptors and/or T-cell receptors or cell biology to support in vitro and in vivo testing of adeno associated viral vectors and non viral vectors.  An understanding of and practical experience of molecular biology techniques to enable the production of these molecules is desirable (such as PCR/qPCR, gDNA/RNA isolation). 

• Teamwork: Demonstrated ability to interact effectively within a multi-disciplinary team and with other internal and external business partners using influencing, communication and relationship building skills. Demonstrated ability to multitask and react and adapt to changing priorities and business direction.

• Communication: Attention to detail and good communication and documentation skills will be expected, as will be a flexible commitment to adding value within the role.  Demonstrated ability to effectively communicate your work and data to various audiences in the form of presentations and written reports.

• Problem Solving: Demonstrated ability to break down complex problems into achievable goals and provide effective solutions that meet the needs of our business partners

Preferred qualifications: 

• Experience working in a wide array of state of the art technologies used in cell and gene therapy, including gene delivery techniques (viral and non viral), gene editing and novel cell-based immunotherapies is desirable.
• An understanding of the drug discovery process - preferably in the area of cell and gene therapy and/or biopharmaceuticals
• Experience of working in a range of therapeutic areas, such as oncology, respiratory and infectious diseases, or immune-inflammation
• Basic and proven understanding of intellectual property and data integrity to support asset progression through pre-clinical research/development

Details: 

The CGT platform unit is an integrated discovery-development-supply unit which will ensure that ground-breaking CGT medicines are seamlessly and expertly discovered and manufactured for clinical development and beyond. In recent years GSK has been working with a leading academic group in Italy (TIGET) to develop ex vivo gene therapies for Rare Diseases. We now have three ex vivo gene therapy products in late stage development. More recently GSK has secured a significant collaboration in the T-cell immunotherapy field with Adaptimmune and other licensing/partnership opportunities are being pursued. The progression of our own portfolio together with the maturation of emerging gene therapy technologies creates an imperative for GSK to now increase our investment in this space and establish an end to end leading platform. This will enable delivery of the portfolio in Rare Diseases and Oncology as well as ensuring that GSK is able to capture the potential of the emerging technologies in other therapeutic areas.

The Cell & Gene Therapy Discovery Research team engages with all GSK therapy areas, including rare diseases, oncology and immuno-inflammatory, to develop their pre-clinical portfolio from target to clinical candidates. The focus of this team is to design the transgenes for optimal performance and perform pre-clinical in vitro and in vivo testing to understand how the payload interacts with the biology at the cell, tissue and organisms level. The level of input into the design, engineering and characterisation of candidate assets ranges from fully resourced program teams, to engagement with 3rd parties (e.g. Adaptimmune’s lead NY-ESO-1 partnered project with GSK) and other support functions. Another important mission of the Cell and Gene Therapy Discovery Research team is to identify, incubate and develop novel technologies to enable or accelerate the discovery of future Cell and Gene Therapy medicines. These next generation technologies may come either from within GSK, or from the wider R&D community

We currently have an exciting position for Cell Biologists within the group to support the developing engineered T-cell platform and the in vivo gene delivery platform.  The Cell Biologist will report into the Discovery Biology Group within CGT Discovery Research. The Discovery Biology group comprises a team of cell biologist and immunologists focussed on the biological development of Cell and Gene Therapy medicines. The team is responsible for the delivery of the early biology package, for targets defined by the Therapy Area, from target validation though to selection of candidate molecules to enable clinical and CMC development. The group works in close collaboration with the Transgene Discovery, Transgene Delivery and Translational Research lines within Cell and Gene Thearapy Discovery Research and with the Cell and Gene Therapy process development groups to progress lead assets to the clinic

The preferred candidate will work across multiple programs, primarily those developing engineered T cells and other immune cells, but may also contribute to developing in vivo delivery of genes to tissues. 

Your focus will be in the laboratory. You will have a strong desire to be involved in cell and gene therapy discovery projects and a willingness to develop and train others as required. You will also have responsibilities for the appropriate maintenance of laboratory equipment and the day-to-day functioning of the laboratory: this will include participation in the routine cleaning of equipment, adherence to lab safety procedures and contribution to the ordering and receiving of laboratory stocks and reagents.


You will have a keen interest in cutting-edge research with a strong desire to deliver science from the bench. The ability to innovate and form productive interactions with scientists across GSK will be key skills for success in this role. Working as part of a multidisciplinary team, the candidate will be responsible for data preparation, analysis, documenting and reporting the results to these teams. You will be expected to maintain knowledge of current scientific literature relevant to the role.  

If requiring an adjustment for a disability, once selected for
Interview you may contact ukdiversity.recruitment@gsk.com

Closing date for applications: 1st November 2016

When applying for this role, please use the 'cover letter' of the on-line application to describe how you meet the competencies for this role, as outlined in the job requirements above.
The information that you have provided in your cover letter and CV will be used to assess your application.

Thank you for your interest in this opportunity.

*LI-GSK

Contact information: 

You may apply for this position online by selecting the Apply now button.