Your Opportunity:

Walden Biosciences’ mission is to transform the treatment of kidney disease by reversing its progression and enabling and inspiring patients to resume their normal lives. Our focus is on developing first-in-class, highly targeted therapies for individuals living with acute kidney injury (AKI) or chronic kidney diseases (CKD). As a member of the Walden Team, you will have an opportunity to help us bring this mission to life.

The Walden platform development team generates multi-omics datasets and uses data sciences to determine the mode of action and therapeutic opportunities using tissue samples and organoid systems. This role is a key member of this team and is responsible for the development of the transcriptomics-based strategy to identify molecular signatures of kidney health and disease. They will be able to work collaboratively with multifunctional teams and will be relentless in pursuing successful outcomes. The right candidate will have the opportunity to participate in the development of bioengineering-based kidney models for drug discovery.

This hands-on role is for a scientific specialist in transcriptomics who will involve collaborating with bench scientists within the group, working closely with bioinformaticians and data scientists to troubleshoot experiments and efficiently deliver high-resolution transcriptomic projects. The successful candidate will be comfortable working in and contributing to a dynamic multi-disciplinary team environment.

Responsibilities:

• Be the group expert in designing, leading, and executing a suite of single-cell and bulk transcriptomic technologies
• Lead the development of transcriptomics platform to establish biological mechanisms using RNAseq and scRNAseq datasets (e.g. 10x Genomics and/or nanostring)
• Standardize methods to isolate cells from human/animal tissues suitable for transcriptomic analysis, prepare samples and transcriptomic libraries, sequencing, QC, and data analysis
• Establish and maintain transcriptomic instrumentation and laboratory equipment
• Work independently on the design and execution of experiments
• Collaborate closely with multiple cross-functional project teams to deliver high-quality datasets for hypothesis generation and target validation

Qualifications:

• Ph.D. in molecular biology, bioinformatics, bioengineering, or related biomedical field
• Experience with performing and interpreting transcriptomics (nanostring/NGS) and knockdown/perturbation studies with appropriate controls to determine the mode of action
• Advanced hands-on wet lab techniques required, including sample and transcriptomic library preparations, QC for transcriptomic analysis with bulk RNAseq and scRNAseq systems to interrogate biological mechanisms in tissues, cell lines, and organoids
• Experience with mammalian cell culture, solid molecular biology laboratory skills, including experience with qPCR and immuno-based assays (multiplex assays, flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, immunocytochemistry)
• Strong ability to critically evaluate experiments, understand assay limitations, and design experiments taking these considerations into account
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, experience working in a team setting, and strong quantitative analysis skills
• The ideal candidate will be organized, eager to learn, curious in exploring new paths for drug discovery, and bold in proposing creative solutions, and will be relentless in pursuing successful outcomes
• Several years of research experience in Pharma/Biotech is a plus.