R-180229: Postdoctoral Fellow – Biomarker Discovery Proteomics

Location: Gaithersburg, USA

Competitive Salary, Bonus & Benefits Package

Do you have expertise in, and passion for mass spectrometry-based proteomics and biomarker discovery in cardiovascular diseases? Would you like to apply your expertise to impact the biomarker discovery in a company that follows the science and turns ideas into life changing medicines? Then join the Dynamic Omics team at AstraZeneca and unlock the power of what science can do.

About AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca is a global, science-led, patient-centered biopharmaceutical company focusing on discovering, developing, and commercializing prescription medicines for some of the world’s most serious diseases. But we’re more than a global leading pharmaceutical company. At AstraZeneca, we're dedicated to being a Great Place to Work and empowering employees to push the boundaries of science and fuel their entrepreneurial spirit.

About our Postdoc Programme

Bring your expertise, apply your knowledge, follow the science, and make a difference. AstraZeneca’s Postdoc Programme is for self-motivated individuals looking to deliver exciting projects in an encouraging, engaging, and innovative environment. You'll work with multidisciplinary scientific teams from a diverse set of backgrounds and a world-class academic mentor specifically aligned to your project. Our postdocs are respected as specialists, encouraged to speak up, and supported to share their research at conferences, publish papers, achieve their goals.

Make a more meaningful impact in your career, with greater ownership and accountability to make a contribution whilst making a difference to the lives of our patients!

This is a 3-year programme.

About the Opportunity

The purpose of this position is to provide early-career researchers with an opportunity to further develop their expertise and skills in the field of proteomics, specifically in the context of cardiovascular diseases. Postdocs play a crucial role in advancing scientific knowledge and driving innovation in the pharmaceutical industries.

The successful postdoc will join AstraZeneca’s Dynamic Omics team, a part of the Centre for Genomics Research (CGR) and Discovery Sciences within AstraZeneca. Discovery Sciences provides high quality hits, leads and drug candidates to AstraZeneca project teams. Our use of advanced omics capabilities continues to drive target validation and identification efforts as we continue to evolve the way that we create new leads for the next generation of medicines. As a member of the Dynamic Omics team under Discovery Sciences, the postdoc will be actively involved in preclinical and clinical studies using high-throughput proteomics workflows and advanced bioinformatics.

Project Focus

This project will conduct pioneering research in heart failure diseases by applying pioneering mass spectrometry-based proteomics tools. Our postdoc will collaborate with experienced AstraZeneca’s interdisciplinary scientists in different areas including and mass spectrometry, bioinformatics, molecular biology, cardiology and animal physiology, and an extraordinary academic mentor specifically aligned to the project. The postdoc will have opportunities to develop career aspirations in an extremely supportive and collaborative environment and make a significant scientific contribution to the field of cardiovascular proteomics research.

Supported by Sophia Chung, Senior Scientist, Clinical Omics at AstraZeneca, you'll also receive academic mentorship and guidance from David A Kass, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Cardiology. The position is located at our R&D site in Gaithersburg, United States.

What You’ll Do

We are looking for scientists with the essential skills and qualifications, track records of academic achievements, easy-to-communicate, approachable personnel, and great collaborators.

This role will primarily lead proteomics projects within Dynamic Omics, CGR, and will be supported by CVRM (Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism). The successful postdoc will have the opportunity to work and grow in a fast-paced environment.

Key Duties & Responsibilities:

• Operating, maintaining, and troubleshooting liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry instrumentation (LC-MS/MS) (e.g. Astral, Ascend, timsTOF)
• Developing and applying all aspects of bottom-up proteomics and PTM proteomics workflows including experimental design, sample preparation, data analysis, and summarizing data for presentations and publications with accountability for accuracy
• Leading the development and optimization of PTM enrichment methods
• Optimizing and applying new technological and data analysis platforms
• Designing and performing cell- or animal-based assays in lab and process various types of samples (e.g. cells, tissues or human samples)
• Leading manuscript publication, demonstrating creative and independent scientific thinking to solve complex technical and scientific problems.

Qualifications, Skills & Experience

Essential Requirements

• PhD, or equivalent in biochemistry, analytical chemistry, chemistry, medicine, pharmacology or biology/chemistry-related fields
• Extensive experience in mass spectrometry-based proteomics applications
• Strong theoretical understanding of analytical chemistry and practical knowledge of instrument interfaces
• Experience with a variety of omics data analysis and bioinformatic tools, including commercial software and programming languages
• Hands-on experience in basic biochemistry or biology assays/experiments.

Desirable Requirements

• Hands-on experience on Orbitrap or timsTOF platforms
• Experience in PTM analyses, such as sample processing, MS acquisition, and data analysis for PTM site localization
• Expertise in DIA workflow or multi-omics integrated analysis
• Experience in molecular biology experiments (e.g. IP, co-IP, tissue cultures, gene editing, KO/OE, PCR, imaging), and familiarity with software tools to design the experiments
• Strong background in heart failure or related diseases

Reasons to Apply

This is a fantastic opportunity to collaborate with experts in proteomics, genomics (CGR), and cardiovascular disease area, grow as a scientist, develop your career in a broad scientific community, and publish high-impact publications. You will lead projects and have access to the latest version of instruments, precious and valuable cohorts and develop pioneering techniques.

We will empower you to take appropriate risks and lead the project whilst providing you with the support you need from the multi omics groups, CVRM and the academic supervisor; a leading clinician-researcher in the heart failure field, with a distinguished career spanning over two decades.

Why AstraZeneca

The unique positioning of this postdoc within a pharmaceutical company such as AZ, means that you will be able to access large datasets which are not available in the public domain. Moreover, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that methods and techniques you develop will not only be published but will also be used within AZ after the postdoc position concludes, in real-life projects - and that ultimately the work you do will directly impact patients’ lives!

As a key member of a research group and taking a leading role on a Postdoctoral project, we expect regular attendance - a minimum of 3 days per week on the AstraZeneca campus. For laboratory-based scientists, this may be higher.

Given the unique positioning of our Postdoctoral researchers, you may have an additional opportunity to spend some time with an external academic mentor. In this instance, you may be required to spend some of your time working alongside them at their facility as driven by the research project. Your flexibility to meet the needs of the research and the scope of the project is required, and we also look to support you with flexibility in accordance with our standard work policies.

Next Steps

If your passion is science and you want to be part of a team that makes a bigger impact on patients’ lives, then there’s no better place to be.

This advert will be running from Monday, 23rd October 2023 and, we welcome your application as soon as possible, but ahead of the scheduled closing date of Sunday, 14th January 2024. In the event, that we identify suitable applicants ahead of the scheduled closing date, we reserve the right to withdraw the vacancy earlier than published.

Find Out More

AZ’s Postdoc Programme: https://careers.astrazeneca.com/postdocs-astrazeneca

Life at AstraZeneca: https://careers.astrazeneca.com/life-at-astrazeneca

This is what we’re made of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmFx_jr2eFo&t=2s

As AstraZeneca continues to put patients at the forefront of our mission, we are excited for our move to Kendall Square/Cambridge in 2026. Find out more information here: Kendall Square Press Release

AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity. We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills. We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics. We follow all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorisation and employment eligibility verification requirements.

AstraZeneca requires all UA employees to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 but will consider requests for reasonable accommodations as required by applicable law.

Date Posted

Closing Date

AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity. We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills. We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics (e.g. race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status). We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorisation and employment eligibility verification requirements.

AstraZeneca requires all US employees to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 but will consider requests for reasonable accommodations as required by applicable law.