Associate Scientist - Antibody Discovery

Hyper intelligence. Curious mindsets. Accelerated progress. Associate Scientist– Antibody Discovery /Protein Engineering

£28,700-£32,300 plus benefits

Reports to: Senior Scientist, Antibody Discovery

Directorate: Research & Innovation

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full time 35 hours per week

Location: Cori Building, Granta Park, Cambridge

Closing date: 29th August 2024 23:55

This vacancy may close earlier if a high volume of applications is received or once a suitable candidate is found, therefore we strongly recommend that you apply early to avoid disappointment. If you require more time to apply as part of a reasonable adjustment, please contact [email protected] as soon as possible.

Recruitment process: Telephone screening followed by face-to-face interview at the lab.

Please note: You must be eligible to work in the UK to apply for this vacancy. Cancer Research UK is not able to offer visa sponsorship. 

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.

Cancer Research UKs antibody discovery team a position available for an associate scientist to join us in our vision to bring forward to the day when all cancers are conquered.

About CRUK Drug Discovery

As the world’s biggest medical research charity, we’ve helped bring eleven new cancer drugs to market. However, there is still an urgent need to bring more effective treatments to patients faster.

We have recently developed a new approach to driving therapeutic innovation through the creation of Cancer Research Horizons (CRH). We have brought together Cancer Research UK’s established drug discovery teams under one organisation and leadership team, combining our unique pipeline of world class biology, cutting edge technology platforms and clinical expertise to 1) bring new treatments to patients faster and 2) tackle the biggest challenges in discovering cancer drugs by seeking out more radical ideas and embracing risk in our bid to achieve success.

This is a great opportunity for an ambitious, proactive and eager to learn scientist looking for the first step in their career. In this role you will have exposure to a range of techniques across protein engineering, high throughput screening and protein science in a flexible environment with support from highly experienced colleagues from our multidisciplinary antibody discovery team. You will also have the opportunity to contribute to key pipeline and technology development projects; work in an inclusive environment where we welcome creative thinking and new ideas. Furthermore, we actively encourage our colleagues to celebrate our science, by attending conferences, presenting posters, giving talks at events and publishing papers. You’ll also be surrounded by people as dedicated to beating cancer as you.

What will I be doing?

This is a lab based role where you will work together with a multi-disciplinary drug discovery team to successfully deliver therapeutic antibodies against a range of oncology targets. You will support delivery of key protein reagents to support antibody discovery campaigns against a range of oncology drug discovery targets.

As an Associate Scientist you will:

• Generate antibody and antibody fragment reagents for the laboratory using bacterial and mammalian expression systems

• Perform purification of antibody and antigen proteins using AKTA and other automated purification platforms

• QC antibodies using analytical techniques such as SDS-PAGE, HPLC and Western blotting

• Maintain inventory of antibody and antigen proteins, support supply of candidates to wider Antibody Discovery and Bioscience team

• Efficiently undertake molecular biology tasks such as restriction digest and golden gate cloning

• Maintaining and operating state of the art laboratory equipment.

What are you looking for?

The Associate Scientist role would suit a recent graduate with some previous lab experience or a current lab technician looking to join a group where they can expand their lab skillset. We are open to a range of backgrounds however you will need to demonstrate:

• A Degree in relevant field

• Knowledge of current protein expression and purification methods

• Knowledge of biochemical and/or cell-based assay systems.

• Knowledge of current molecular biology techniques relevant to the construction of expression vectors for downstream screening of antibodies and antibody fragments.

• Experience in protein purification and use of AKTA instrumentation desired

• Experience with mammalian transient expression desired

• Knowledge of and interest in learning phage display technology and its application within antibody discovery programs.

Our organisation values are designed to guide all that we do.

Bold: Act with ambition, courage and determination

Credible: Act with rigour and professionalism

Human: Act to have a positive impact on people

Together: Act inclusively and collaboratively

We’re looking for people who can believe in and embody these organisation values and can use them to drive forward progress against our mission to beat cancer.

If you’re interested in applying and excited about working with us but are unsure if you have the right skills and experience we’d still love to hear from you.

What will I gain?

We create a working environment that supports your wellbeing and provide a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools. Our policies and processes enable you to improve your work-life balance, take positive steps in your career and achieve your personal wellbeing goals.

You can explore our benefits by visiting our careers web page.

How do I apply?

We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. CVs are required for all applications; but we won’t be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead, we ask you to complete the work history section of the online application form for us to be able to assess you fairly and objectively.

For more information on this career opportunity please visit our website or contact us at [email protected].  

For more updates on our work and careers, follow us on: Linked In, Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube.

There’s a place for everyone at Cancer Research UK. Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We're committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone can be themselves and reach their full potential. 

We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, in particular those from ethnic minority backgrounds who are currently under-represented, and believe that a diverse workforce will help us to beat cancer sooner. 

If you’re interested in applying and excited about working with us but are unsure if you have the right skills and experience we’d still love to hear from you. We don’t expect everyone to meet all of the criteria listed.

We want to see every candidate performing at their best throughout the job application process, interview process and whilst at work. We therefore ask you to inform us of any concerns you have or any adjustments you might need to enable this to happen by emailing us at [email protected]. 

Unfortunately, we are unable to recruit anyone below the age of 18, so that we can protect young people from health & safety and safeguarding risks.