Senior Associate Scientist, Viral Vaccines - Pfizer : Job Details

Pfizer's purpose is to deliver breakthroughs that change patients' lives. Research and Development is at the heart of fulfilling Pfizer's purpose as we work to translate advanced science and technologies into the therapies and vaccines that matter most. Whether you are in the discovery sciences, ensuring drug safety and efficacy or supporting clinical trials, you will apply cutting edge design and process development capabilities to accelerate and bring the best-in-class medicines to patients around the world.

As a Senior Associate Scientist, you will be at the center of our scientific vaccine operations and you'll find that everything we do, every day, is in line with an unwavering commitment to quality. You will join a team leading the important role of generating viruses such as human parainfluenza virus (HPIV), human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), influenza viruses, and SARS-CoV-2 under BSL-2 and BSL-3 conditions. Primary responsibilities will include maintaining mammalian cell culture, optimizing virus propagations in cells to produce high titer stocks for vaccine efficacy research, performing virus characterization assays, and coordinating with teams across the site to ensure viral reagent needs are met. You will manage and update reagent inventories, plan and execute production of virus batches, and organize virus distributions to other groups within Pfizer to meet critical deadlines supporting vaccine research and development. Other responsibilities will include collaborating on data and information transfer between groups, development and integration of laboratory immunoassays, and supporting high throughput assay activities and testing for clinical and non-clinical research programs.

Your strong foundation in general scientific practice and its principles and concepts will help in meeting critical deadlines. You will be relied on as a technical contributor to assess the assigned tasks and make decisions that involve direct application of your knowledge. It is your hard work and focus that will make Pfizer ready to achieve new milestones and help patients across the globe.

How You Will Achieve It

• Exercise key team effectiveness skills (e.g., commitment, feedback, consensus management) within the immediate work group
• Grow and maintain different mammalian cell lines and perform virus infections to produce stocks supporting downstream assays
• Perform virus titrations using methods such as TCID50, FFA, and plaque assay
• Manage and maintain detailed virus and reagent inventories
• Write, review, and update documents associated with virus production and functional bioassays, including standard operating procedures, test methods, and technical reports
• Obtain clinical isolates from external vendors and prepare reagents necessary to produce virus stocks
• Collaborate with colleagues in Pfizer Vaccines organization including early bioprocess, preclinical, and clinical development groups
• Present progress and results on viral production and processes to colleagues and management
• Collect and analyze laboratory data to interpret results for troubleshooting, qualifications, and other laboratory projects

Qualifications

Must-Have

• BS degree in life sciences (e.g. biology, immunology, virology, microbiology) or related discipline with 3+ years of laboratory experience or MS degree in life sciences or related discipline with 1+ years of laboratory experience
• Experience in a BSL-2 setting and aseptic techniques
• Experience with mammalian cell culture
• Experience with DNA/RNA extractions and qPCR
• Ability to multitask and carry out responsibilities independently as an influential team member
• Strong attention to detail, good verbal and written communication skills, and the ability to collaborate and work in team environment
• Proficient computer skills including word processing, Excel, and PowerPoint

Nice-to-Have

• Background in virology, especially viruses causing illnesses in humans such as influenza viruses, SARS-CoV-2, HPIV, and HCMV
• BSL-3 experience
• Experience with LIMS, PyMOL or UCSF Chimera, GraphPad Prism, Geneious or related software
• Experience analyzing gene sequences and mutations
• Experience developing and troubleshooting cell-based and immunoassays such as neutralization and FFA
• Experience with instruments such as CTL ImmunoSpot, Softmax Pro, and QuantStudio

Physical/Mental Requirements

• Ability to meet the standard requirements for a lab-based role and perform all typical lab related activities (lifting