Junior/Assistant/Associate/Full Specialist (Neuroscience and Protein Engineering)
Search#JPF05528
Department of Neurology and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, UCSF

We are seeking a highly motivated candidate to join our quick-paced and multi-talented team to develop therapeutic antibodies to treat autoimmune encephalitis and other inflammatory diseases of the brain. The successful candidate will be responsible for molecular biology, biochemistry, protein and antibody expression and purification, phage display, and protein and antibody validation. The candidate will have opportunities to learn state-of-the-art techniques, including automation systems, and will jointly work within the Neuroscience laboratory led by Dr. Brandon Holmes and the Antibiome Center led by Dr. Kevin Leung. Our laboratories are highly collaborative and engage in numerous academic and industrial projects.

The Holmes laboratory investigates inflammation as a critical regulator of brain disorders. We focus on how glial reactivity accelerates neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation. We collaborate with UCSF biorepositories to detect and isolate pathogenic autoantibodies within patient blood and cerebrospinal fluid.

The Antibiome Center is part of the Recombinant Antibody Network (RAN) and is committed to generating recombinant antibodies at a proteome-wide scale using high throughput phage display approaches. Our long history of protein engineering expertise enables the development of bio-therapeutic antibodies in the neuroscience and immuno-oncology fields.

Together, we aim to engineer therapeutic antibodies to target and neutralize pathogenic autoantibodies in neuroinflammatory diseases such as NMDA receptor encephalitis.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Cloning recombinant protein and antibody constructs using a variety of molecular biology techniques including DNA purification, transformation, polymerase chain reaction, and Gibson assembly.
• Expressing proteins from E.coli and mammalian sources (HEK293-F and CHO cells).
• Performing antibody display (phage, yeast, or mammalian) to identify novel therapeutic antibodies.
• Purifying proteins using chromatography techniques including Protein A, immobilized metal affinity chromatography, and ion exchange chromatography.
• Characterizing proteins by SDS-PAGE, ELISA, SEC, and Western Blot.

Required Qualifications:

• Junior Specialist- Baccalaureate degree (or equivalent degree) in biochemistry, cell biology, or relevant life sciences field or at least four years of research experience.
• Assistant Specialist- Master's degree or a baccalaureate degree in biochemistry, cell biology, or relevant life sciences field with three or more years of research experience.
• Associate Specialist- Master's degree (or equivalent degree) in relevant life sciences field or five to ten years of research experience.
  
• Full Specialist- Terminal degree (or equivalent degree) in relevant life sciences field or ten or more years of research experience.
• Candidates must meet the required qualifications at the time of appointment.
  
• Candidate's CV must state qualifications (or if pending) upon submission.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Junior Specialist- at least one year of wet laboratory experience.
• Expertise in protein handling, expression, and purification.
• Proficiency with mammalian tissue culture techniques including transfections, cell line maintenance, recombinant protein expression.
• Familiarity with display technologies.
• Experience with Next-Generation-Sequencing techniques and analysis.
• Proficiency with advanced biophysical techniques such as Biolayer Interferometry (BLI), Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR), poly-reactivity assays, and HPLC chromatography.
• Data analysis experience using programing languages such as R or Python.

Appointment and salary will be commensurate with the applicant's experience and training.

Please apply online at https://aprecruit.ucsf.edu/JPF05528, with a CV, cover letter, statement of research, and two references.

See Table 24B for the salary range for this position. A reasonable estimate for this position is $53,100-$188,200.

As a University employee, you will be required to comply with all applicable University policies and/or collective bargaining agreements, as may be amended from time to time. Federal, state, or local government directives may impose additional requirements.

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected status under state or federal law.

As a condition of employment, the finalist will be required to disclose if they are subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct.
* "Misconduct" means any violation of the policies or laws governing conduct at the applicant's previous place of employment, including, but not limited to, violations of policies or laws prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other forms of harassment, discrimination, dishonesty, or unethical conduct, as defined by the employer.
* UC Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy: https://policy.ucop.edu/doc/4000385/SVSH
* UC Anti-Discrimination Policy: https://policy.ucop.edu/doc/1001004/Anti-Discrimination
* APM - 035: Affirmative Action and Nondiscrimination in Employment: https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/apm/apm-035.pdf