Scientist Bioscience Immunology, Early Respiratory and Immunology

Location: Gaithersburg, MD or Boston, MA

AstraZeneca is a global, science-driven biopharmaceutical company. We are dedicated to discovering, developing, and delivering innovative, meaningful medicines and healthcare solutions that enrich the lives of patients. The vision of AstraZeneca Early Respiratory & Immunology (Early R&I) is centered on delivering life-changing products that advance world health and help fight and cure disease. Early R&I is one of three main therapeutic research areas within AstraZeneca that deliver candidate drugs into late-stage clinical development. Here, you’ll have the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives every day.

As a part of building Immunology Bioscience team within Early R&I department, we are seeking a highly motivated scientist with a strong understanding of adaptive and/or innate immunity and ideally understanding key biological pathways in immune-mediated diseases such as rheumatological and/or gastrointestinal diseases. This is a lab-based position. The role will be based in Gaithersburg (US) or Waltham, MA (Boston BioHub) within AstraZeneca’s state-of-the-art laboratories where you will follow the science to help drive innovation and advance medicine to help improve patient lives.

In this role, you would be expected to demonstrate an exceptionally high level of enthusiasm for innovative scientific research leading to the discovery and development of novel therapeutics. Ideally, you have expertise in T-, B- and innate immunity and/or pathogenic mechanisms involved in tissue pathology in immune-mediated diseases. Experience in complex co-culture systems and cell imaging, and an ability to apply this experience to an understanding of the basic mechanisms of human immune-mediated disease is preferred.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

This job is a lab-based research role, and you will have significant opportunity to drive the direction of the work. The work will be predominantly human in vitro systems, working with primary and disease tissue-derived cells, although knowledge and experience of in vivo science is a bonus. A background in human immunology and immune-mediated diseases and translational approaches to understand basic biological mechanisms in disease is needed.

• You will focus your research on characterizing novel immunological pathways in health and disease to aid target validation and drug projects

• You will execute drug discovery research experiments independently by applying the techniques of molecular and cellular biology, communicates the results to team members and is involved in the interpretation of data

• You will contribute to development of the strategies for new target identification and validation

• You will collaborate with scientists from a variety of functional teams in Waltham and with our sites in Gaithersburg, MD; Cambridge, UK and Gothenburg, Sweden.

• You will benefit from daily interaction and collaboration with highly accomplished scientists and the position offers a unique opportunity to work in a dynamic and innovative environment developing your career at the interface of research and drug discovery.

• You will involve in the development of new assays and implementing novel technical advances with human tissue culture

• Encouragement and support will be provided to help the individual develop specialist knowledge and skill sets.

• Publication of your work in high impact journals.

Requirements

• Master degree with experience or Ph.D. degree in immunology or relevant discipline

• Expertise in drug discovery projects in the immunology, or a closely related field of biology is preferred

• Highly organized and self-motivated, with the ability to work independently as well as collaboratively within a team to conduct a high-level research project.

• Strong hands-on skills in basic biochemical, immunological and molecular techniques including cell culture, quantification of mRNA (qPCR) and protein expression; ELISA, Western blot, and Immunoprecipitation; MSD, Luminex etc.

• Expertise in primary human cell culture including co-culture models, expertise in multi-parametric FACS, including both intracellular and extracellular cell surface markers are essential.

• Strong written and oral communication skills and the ability to critically analyze data sets

• Demonstrated ability to run collaborative efforts and utilize external resources to find the most effective solutions to drug discovery problems

• Ability to record protocols and experiments in timely manner and maintain excellent laboratory notebook.

• Biotech or pharmaceutical experience preferred but not essential.

Benefits:

AstraZeneca is a leading company in the healthcare industry, with a mission to enrich the lives of others. It’s our business to support healthy living, not only for our patients, but also for our employees. Our benefits program is flexible enough to meet employees’ varying needs, offers valuable choices, and is highly competitive.

Why AstraZeneca?

At AstraZeneca when we see an opportunity for change, we seize it and make it happen, because any opportunity no matter how small, can be the start of something big. Delivering life-changing medicines is about being entrepreneurial - finding those moments and recognizing their potential. Join us on our journey of building a new kind of organization to reset expectations of what a bio-pharmaceutical company can be. This means we’re opening new ways to work, pioneering cutting edge methods and bringing unexpected teams together.

Come and join our journey - Apply today!

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

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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.