Senior Associate Scientist

Position Title: Associate Scientist II- Biologics CMC Developability

Length of Initial Contract: 12 Months with possible extension

Location/Site: North Chicago, IL

Onsite: 100% on-site

Scientist II, Biologics CMC Developability

The Biologics CMC Developability (BCD) group sits at the interface of discovery and development. The core role of BCD is to generate developability insights that inform candidate selection, molecular optimization, and advancement decisions across biologics pipeline. Developability assessments focus on identifying manufacturability, formulation, stability, and product quality risks early in development to enable selection of robust drug candidates. Our team works across a wide range of therapeutic areas and diverse classes of biologics therapeutics, including monoclonal antibodies, bispecific and Mult specific antibodies, antibody drug conjugates (ADC), fusion proteins, and emerging biologic modalities.

We are looking for a highly motivated person to support these developability efforts and early-stage assessment of candidates to move ever-evolving pipeline forward. In this role, the candidate will be part of a global team and will work closely with scientists from multiple functional areas, including Discovery, Analytical, and Process R&D.

Key Responsibilities:

• Support candidate screening activities by executing characterization studies including conformational stability assessment via differential scanning fluorimetry/calorimetry experiments, solution viscosity determination, and other techniques
• Evaluate drug candidate chemical and physical stability against different solution conditions (pH, ionic strength, temperature, light, etc.) and physical stresses arising from manufacturing process conditions (freeze thaw, mixing, filtration, filling, and lyophilization)
• Communicate scientific findings and development risks through clear presentations and technical reports to cross-functional teams and senior stakeholders
• Stay current with the literature and support new scientific initiatives

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Biochemistry, Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering, or a related scientific discipline and typically 4 (BS) or 2 (MS) years of relevant experience
• Experience with formulation, protein stability, or developability assessment of therapeutic biologics is strongly preferred.
• Strong laboratory skills focused on chemical and structural characterization of biologics (HPLC/UPLC, SEC, capillary electrophoresis, icIEF, particle analysis, DLS, DSF, DSC, UV-Vis, and related developability assessment techniques).
• Scientific understanding of the structure and function of monoclonal antibodies, antibody constructs/conjugates, bispecifics, and fusion proteins and their modes of degradation

Key Leadership Competencies:

• Builds strong relationships with peers and cross functionally with partners outside of the team to enable higher performance.
• Excellent oral communication skills in a scientific setting, as well as sound technical writing and documentation competency.
• The candidate must be able to work independently, respond to changing priorities and short lead times for multiple tasks; able to identify problems and work toward solutions.
• Demonstrates scientific curiosity and continuously seeks opportunities to improve experimental approaches, efficiency, and data quality.
• Fosters collaboration, values diverse scientific perspectives, and translates innovative ideas into practical solutions.

EEO:

“Mindlance is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate in employment on the basis of – Minority/Gender/Disability/Religion/LGBTQI/Age/Veterans.