Moderna Therapeutics Inc. Looking for Principal Scientist, Epigenetics, Immune Therapeutics Discovery at Cambridge, Massachusetts Full Time

The Role

Moderna is seeking a talented and highly motivated Principal Scientist to join the Immune Therapeutics Discovery team to advance our innovative immune therapeutics discovery pipeline. The successful candidate will be responsible for target prioritization, design, and execution of epigenetic and immune experiments within Moderna’s research and early development in a dynamic and highly interdisciplinary environment. The candidate will have a deep understanding of chromatin biology, experience in next generation-based high-throughput screens, and strong scientific curiosity to apply emerging epigenetic technologies to advance mRNA therapeutic discovery. The successful candidate will be integrated in a cross-disciplinary environment with passionate immunologists, epigeneticists, and computational biologists. The applicant should therefore be highly collaborative, creative, possess excellent written and verbal communication skills, and have a demonstrable track record of accomplishing team objectives and deliverables

Here’s What You’ll Do

• Apply translational research knowledge focusing on drug target identification, validation, and mechanism of action.

• Design and execute high-throughput assay development for the development of novel epigenetic mRNA therapeutics.

• Design and execute high-throughput screens for target validation and prioritization for autoimmune therapeutics.

• Use existing and emerging next generation sequencing techniques (e.g. CUT&Tag, Hi-C, Methyl-seq, RNA-seq) to characterize novel mRNA therapeutics.

• Collaborate with immunology, next-generation sequencing core, and computational science in the design, execution, and interpretation of experiments.

• Analyze, interpret, and document scientific work.

• Present findings to larger team and key stakeholders.

Here’s What You’ll Need (Minimum Qualifications)

• Ph.D. in Biological Engineering, Biology, Genetics, Immunology, or related field

• A minimum of 5 years of relevant academic or industry experience

• Strong background in NGS-based high-throughput screening

• Strong background in multimodal genomic characterization of the immune system

• Knowledge of bioinformatics workflows to process and analyze various sequencing datatypes

• Experience and knowledge in mRNA-LNP delivery and biodistribution

Here’s What You’ll Bring to the Table (Preferred Qualifications)

• Expertise in mammalian cell culture (cell passaging, transfection, and cell-based functional assays)

• Expertise in a variety of molecular and cellular biology techniques (nucleic acid isolation, western blot, NGS library prep)

• Expertise in multicolor flow cytometry and sorting

• Expertise in epigenetic assays such as ATAC-Seq, CUT&RUN, CUT&Tag, ChIP-Seq, DNA methylation, RNA-seq, whole genome sequencing, whole exome sequencing, single-cell sequencing

• Experience with computational analysis, python, and nextflow is a plus

• Experience with CRISPR-based or other screening systems is a plus

• Attention to detail, excellent written and oral communication, and data visualizations.

• Scientific versatility, flexibility, results oriented, and ability to think creatively outside the box.

• A desire to make an impact as part of a high-growth, transformational company that is Bold, Relentless, Curious, and Collaborative.

Moderna is pleased to provide you and your family with a comprehensive and innovative suite of benefits, including:

• Highly competitive and inclusive medical, dental and vision coverage options
• Flexible Spending Accounts for medical expenses and dependent care expenses
• Lifestyle Spending Account funds to help you engage in personal enrichment and self-care activities
• Family care benefits, including subsidized back-up care options and on-demand tutoring
• Free premium access to fitness, nutrition, and mindfulness classes
• Exclusive preferred pricing on Peloton fitness equipment
• Adoption and family-planning benefits
• Dedicated care coordination support for our LGBTQ+ community
• Generous paid time off, including:
  • Vacation, sick time and holidays
  • Volunteer time to participate within your community
  • Discretionary year-end shutdown
  • Paid sabbatical after 5 years; every 3 years thereafter
• Generous Paid Leave offerings, including 18 weeks of 100% paid parental leave for all new parents
• 401k match and Financial Planning tools
• Moderna-paid Life, LTD and STD insurance coverages, as well as voluntary benefit options
• Complimentary concierge service including home services research, travel booking, and entertainment requests
• Free parking or subsidized commuter passes
• Location-specific perks and extras!

About Moderna

In over 10 years since its inception, Moderna has transformed from a research-stage company advancing programs in the field of messenger RNA (mRNA), to an enterprise with a diverse clinical portfolio of vaccines and therapeutics across seven modalities, a broad intellectual property portfolio in areas including mRNA and lipid nanoparticle formulation, and an integrated manufacturing plant that allows for rapid clinical and commercial production at scale. Moderna maintains alliances with a broad range of domestic and overseas government and commercial collaborators, which has allowed for the pursuit of both groundbreaking science and rapid scaling of manufacturing. Most recently, Moderna’s capabilities have come together to allow the authorized use and approval of one of the earliest and most effective vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moderna’s mRNA platform builds on continuous advances in basic and applied mRNA science, delivery technology and manufacturing, and has allowed the development of therapeutics and vaccines for infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, cardiovascular diseases and autoimmune diseases. Moderna has been named a top biopharmaceutical employer by Science for the past seven years. To learn more, visit (url removed).

Moderna is a smoke-free, alcohol-free and drug-free work environment.

Moderna is a place where everyone can grow. If you meet the Basic Qualifications for the role and you would be excited to contribute to our mission every day, please apply!

Moderna is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer.

Moderna is committed to equal employment opportunity and non-discrimination for all employees and qualified applicants without regard to a person’s race, color, sex, gender identity or expression, age, religion, national origin, ancestry or citizenship, ethnicity, disability, military or protected veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, marital or familial status, or any other personal characteristic protected under applicable law. Moderna is an E-Verify Employer in the United States. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.

Belonging, Inclusion, and Diversity are critical to the success of our company and our impact on society. We’re focused on attracting, retaining, developing, and advancing our employees and believe that by cultivating diverse experiences, backgrounds, and ideas, we can provide an environment where every employee is able to contribute their best.

Moderna is committed to offering reasonable accommodations to qualified job applicants with disabilities. Any applicant requiring an accommodation in connection with the hiring process and/or to perform the essential functions of the position for which the applicant has applied should make a request to the Talent Acquisition Partner or contact the Accommodations team at (url removed). (EEO/AAP Employer)

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