Senior Staff Scientist - Oregon Health & Science University

Department Overview:

The OHSU Knight Cancer Institute (KCI) is a pioneer in personalized cancer treatment and research. The institute focuses on precision oncology, the early detection, prevention, and treatment of cancer, and creating a welcoming and supportive environment for its caregivers, researchers, and support personnel. Knight affiliates subscribe to three guiding principles: we are bold, we are supportive, and we work as a connected team in our fight to end cancer as we know it. IMCO (Immune Monitoring and Cancer Omics Laboratory) is a division of KCI which focuses on translational and clinical research supporting academic and external client/collaborators.

 

We seek an experienced scientist with background in translational/clinical research with superb understanding of cancer biology/cancer immunology. This position will supervise our state-of-the art portfolio of assays, spearhead new assay development from project inception and scoping through validation and troubleshooting as well as lead IMCO’s clinical research efforts building long lasting relationships with our collaborators and clients.

Function/Duties of Position:

This position would report to the director of IMCO and work closely with IMCO’s project manager, wet lab staff and bioinformatics team.

 

The right candidate must be able to work independently, be driven and comfortable making strategic decisions, providing general oversight to our team of lab scientists and computational biologists and analysts. This position will oversee and actively participate in development of new assays including spatial imaging technologies such as Lunaphore’s Comet. This is a hands-on position which requires some wet bench work as well as scientific project management and data interpretation (including clinical relevance, statistical and biological significance).  The ideal candidate will be expected to onboard and validate new assays and technologies, develop SOPs and teach the technical staff once the assays are validated how to run them.  The Staff Scientist will spearhead the following tasks 1) Planning experiments using current assays and panels assuring adherence to deliverables and time sensitive deadlines 2) Validation of new assays and optimizing existing workflows following standard operating procedures and 3) detailed record keeping of current projects 4) assuring GLP-like implementation of high rigor and assay reproducibility.

 

Importantly, in coordination with the program director and computation team, this position will be responsible for data interpretation and timely and professional communication with our academic and industry clients and collaborators.

 

Opportunities for participation in research projects/grants/papers will be plentiful. This individual will be located within the Knight Diagnostic Laboratories and will report to IMCO Director. For the laboratory scientist with experience with both hands-on wet lab experimentation and new assay design/validation this position will be a great opportunity to become a key contributor to our unique environment at the intersection of patient care, translational research and industry sponsored clinical drug development.

 

1. Every Knight Cancer employee is expected to embody our guiding principles:

• We act BOLDLY—Breakthroughs require pushing the boundaries of science, exploring new frontiers, and thinking differently
• We SUPPORT each other—Respect leads to trust, which leads to excellence
• We work as a CONNECTED team — We must leverage our collective brain power to conquer cancer because no one individual can do it alone

2. Develop new assays) for eventual clinical/translational use in IMCO (concept design, sample selection, lab validation, data analysis/manipulation/interpretation/cleaning)

 

3. Implement and perform current CyTOF and mIHC assays as needed

 

4. Be part of the leadership team that develops/validates/troubleshoots new IMCO assays

 

5. Plan, execute, analyze, and write up results for research projects

 

6. Mentor/train/teach/troubleshoot with other lab members (scientists, technologists, faculty and bioinformaticists)

Required Qualifications:

Education & Experience:

• Doctoral degree in cancer biology with major courses immunology and clinical science.
• 7+ years of practical post-doctoral lab experience focused on spatial proteomics, imaging or single cell technologies. Previous experience with human samples and GLP-like assays

Job Related Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (Competencies):

• Ability to prioritize multiple tasks at one time
• Must have excellent communication, analytical and organizational skills:  both written and verbal
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team while being collaborative in resolving problems
• Must be proficient with computers running Windows and PC applications (e.g. MS Excel, Word, PowerPoint) and other advances data analysis tools/software
• Must be able to learn (and create) new software tools/pipelines for analyzing/manipulating new assay data

Preferred Qualifications:

Education & Experience:

• Ph.D. and post graduate work with both wet lab (spatial imaging) and data analysis/programming experience highly desired.
• Deep understanding of clinical trial biomarker studies is a plus.
• 5-10 years post PhD experience focused on cancer biology, assay development or spatial proteomics
• R skills desired
• Experience in clinical and translational biomarker research

Job Related Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (Competencies):

• In depth understanding of cancer biology and immunology
• Literature review
• Data analysis and interpretation,
• Statistical modeling
• Familiarity with working with human samples
• Computer programming an added benefit 

Additional Details:

Please submit a cover letter with your application to be considered. 

All are welcome:Oregon Health & Science University values a diverse and culturally competent workforce. We are proud of our commitment to being an equal opportunity, affirmative action organization that does not discriminate against applicants on the basis of any protected class status, including disability status and protected veteran status. Individuals with diverse backgrounds and those who promote diversity and a culture of inclusion are encouraged to apply. To request reasonable accommodation contact the Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Department at 503-494-5148 or aaeo@ohsu.edu.