"Senior Research Scientist, Georgia Cancer Center"

Job Summary

Job ID 276341

Position # 40079807

The Georgia Cancer Center (GCC) at Augusta University (AU) is actively seeking a highly motivated faculty member at the rank of Senior Research Scientist, with a deep immunology background to join our booming research team driving CAR-T Cell Therapy discovery research. The faculty member will play a crucial role in the design, development, optimization, and nomination of CAR-T cell candidates using various in vitro and in vivo phenotypic and functional assays, and will work closely with our cross-functional teams to advance our exciting lead CAR-T candidates to clinical application. This position is not considered to be on tenure track.

Responsibilities

Research - 50%

• Independently plan, execute, analyze, and report on experiments to support the preclinical development of novel T cell therapy products.
• Genome editing and culturing human pluripotent stem cells in various conditions.
• Perform in vitro cell-based functional assays (cytotoxicity, cytokine, proliferation, etc.) for CAR T cell therapeutic candidate selection.
• Design, execute, and analyze flow cytometry experiments for CAR T cell product characterization.

Reporting Research - 50%

• Support engineered T cell production activities (e.g., gene editing, T cell culture, cryopreservation, cell thawing).
• Culture both engineered primary T cell and suspension/adherent cell lines.
• Support IND-enabling preclinical studies.
• Coordinate tasks across multiple projects and teams, demonstrating prioritization and planning.

Required Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent in Cell or Molecular Biology/Biological Sciences with 10 or more years research experience.
• Extensive hands-on experience with Molecular Biology (as PCR, qRT-PCR, ddPCR, DNA/RNA and protein preparation), Cloning, mammalian cell culture and transfection.
• Experience with multi-color flow cytometry, panel design, and data analysis.
• Willingness to accept responsibilities outside of initial job description.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with human CAR T cell engineering.
• Experience using viral (lentiviral, retroviral or AAV) and/or non-viral gene delivery methods (e.g., CRISPR mediated knock-in or targeted genome integration).
• Experience with immunological assays, such as cytokine/chemokine analysis (e.g., ELISA or Luminex), cytotoxicity and in vitro cell based assays live cell analysis.
• Proficiency in using data analysis tools such as FlowJo and GraphPad Prism.
• Understanding of US FDA cGMP and international regulatory requirements is welcomed.

Shift/Salary/Benefits

This position is fiscal year based and works year-round.

The intended work commitment or full-time equivalent (FTE) for this position is 1.0 and considered full-time.

Salary and compensation is commensurate with education, experience, and achievements. The salary is subject to availability of funds.

Comprehensive benefits include medical, dental, vision, 13 paid holidays, vacation leave, sick leave, generous retirement plans, tuition waiver, wellness options, and much more!

Also, our full-time employees who have been employed with us successfully for more than 6 months can be considered for the Tuition Assistance Program.

Rank and salary are determined at the time of hire and are based on a variety of factors including but not limited to experience, education, credentials, specialty, training, etc. while also considering internal equity and market data.

Advancement through the faculty ranks at Augusta University is only through the annual Promotion and Tenure process in which faculty may apply if eligible (typically five-year increments). For more information on ranks, please review the Augusta University Promotion and Tenure Website: https://www.augusta.edu/faculty-affairs/promotionandtenure.php