Scientist I, Nonclinical & Immunoassay

Vaxcyte

Vaxcyte

San Carlos, CA, USA
Posted on Friday, February 2, 2024
Company Profile:
Vaxcyte, Inc. (Nasdaq: PCVX) is a vaccine innovation company engineering high-fidelity vaccines to protect humankind from the consequences of bacterial diseases. The Company is developing broad-spectrum conjugate and novel protein vaccines to prevent or treat bacterial infectious diseases. Vaxcyte’s lead candidate, VAX-24, is a 24-valent, broad-spectrum, carrier-sparing pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) being developed for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). The Company is re-engineering the way highly complex immunizations are made through modern synthetic techniques, including advanced chemistry and our exclusively licensed XpressCFTM cell-free protein synthesis platform. Unlike conventional cell-based approaches, the Company’s system for producing difficult-to-make proteins and antigens is intended to accelerate its ability to efficiently create and deliver high-fidelity vaccines with enhanced immunological benefits. Vaxcyte’s pipeline also includes VAX-31, a 31-valent PCV candidate; VAX-A1, a prophylactic vaccine candidate designed to prevent Group A Strep infections; VAX-PG, a therapeutic vaccine candidate designed to slow or stop the progression of periodontal disease; and VAX-GI, a vaccine program designed to prevent Shigella. The Company is driven to eradicate or treat invasive bacterial infections, which have serious and costly health consequences when left unchecked. For more information, visit www.vaxcyte.com.
Vaxcyte, headquartered in San Carlos, CA, went public in June 2020 and currently has a team of approximately 180 employees and anticipates continued, significant growth. Following equity offerings in October 2022 and April 2023, which generated over $1.1 billion in net proceeds, the Company’s balance sheet is further strengthened to advance its pipeline of novel vaccines, including VAX-24. These financings followed positive data readouts from Vaxcyte’s Phase 1/2 proof-of-concept study evaluating VAX-24 in adults aged 18-64 and Phase 2 study in adults 65 and older. The Company believes these results support a best-in-class potential for VAX-24, which was designed to replace the current standard-of-care in adults and children. VAX-24 is being investigated for the prevention of IPD, which can be most serious for infants, young children, older adults and those with immune deficiencies or certain chronic health conditions. Given the global impact of pneumococcal disease remains significant, the public health community continues to advocate for vaccines that can offer broader protection to prevent IPD. Vaxcyte’s PCV franchise, consisting of VAX-24 and VAX-31, is designed specifically to address this need and has the potential to deliver the broadest protection for this very serious disease. We believe that our PCVs could receive regulatory approval based on successful completion of clinical studies utilizing well-defined surrogate immune endpoints, consistent with how other PCVs have obtained regulatory approval in the past, rather than requiring clinical field efficacy studies.
Summary:
We require a highly competent Scientist who will manage critical reagent generation, development and inventory for our current 3 vaccine programs, and for any new development projects. This person will lead a small team to continue this development and will help to implement new methods in relation to improving our process. The role requires an extremely high level of organization, and the ability to maintain large volumes of data for all the reagents. In addition, the successful candidate will require significant experience in purifying and characterizing antibodies, which includes generating high-affinity antibodies specific to the antigen.

Essential Functions:

  • Help continue the development and optimization of assay suites for our current 3 programs, and for the following research projects.
  • Lead a small team to continue this development.
  • Have an extremely high level of organization, and the ability to maintain large volumes of data for the various DS and DP entities.
  • Demonstrate experience in developing, trouble shooting and running ELISA-type assays, including generation of the critical reagents, which includes generating high-affinity antibodies specific to the antigen.

Requirements:

  • PhD 0-2yrs, BSc/MSc 5+ in Molecular Biology, Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Organic Biochemistry considered, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
  • Ideal candidate will have a significant background in antibody development and characterization including AKTA and HPLC purification.
  • Experience in protein analysis such as SEC, HPLC, SDS-page, CE-SDS, and cIEF and binding kinetics.
  • Having a high degree of organizational capabilities for both reagents and experimental
  • scheduling a must.
  • Experience in managing critical reagents in terms of storage, inventory maintenance and shipping.
  • Prior experience of transferring methods to external partners for validation and GMP
  • activities will be of a significant benefit, and first-hand experience of a QC environment.
  • would also be advantageous.
  • COA documentation background a plus.
  • LIMS experience a plus.
  • Experience in immunoassay development, qualification, validation, trouble shooting and aiding in OOS investigations is highly desired.
  • Managerial experience is of notable benefit.
  • The ability to present complex data sets and independently propose and design follow-up experiments are also required.
  • Maintaining good laboratory practices, safety and record keeping for them-selves and their team is required.
  • All Vaxcyte employees require vaccination against COVID-19.
Reports to: Group Leader, Nonclinical & Immunoassay
Location: San Carlos, CA
Compensation:
The compensation package will be competitive and includes comprehensive benefits and an equity component.
Salary Range: $120,000 - $128,000
Send resumes to:
Vaxcyte, Inc.
825 Industrial Road, Suite 300
San Carlos, CA 94070
We are 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 or veteran status.