PopVax Hiring: Protein & RNA Design Scientist Vacancy Available

PopVax Hiring: Protein & RNA Design Scientist Vacancy Available

Junior Scientist/Scientist – Protein & RNA Design

Research & Development (Computational)

Full-time

Location: Hyderabad, IN

Posted on: October 24, 2024

PopVax is an Indian biotechnology company based in Hyderabad that is building a next-generation mRNA platform for broadly protective vaccines via computationally-driven antigen design and a novel delivery platform, starting with a next-generation COVID-19 vaccine candidate that will enter clinical trials in the US this year. Our research work has been funded primarily via research agreements with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (India) & Vitalik Buterin’s Balvi.

As our first program moves into the clinic, we are beginning preclinical work on a variety of novel mRNA vaccines and therapeutics in parallel. As such, we are seeking a highly motivated and detail-oriented researcher to join our Computational Design Team as a Junior Scientist/Scientist – Protein & RNA Design to design broadly effective next-generation vaccines and therapeutics. This is a unique opportunity to operate on the frontier of our understanding of the physiological impact of cutting-edge protein design and nucleic acid modalities. This position reports to the VP of Protein Design.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Literature review, including locating and summarizing the latest research in fields of interest, retrieving specific papers or other peer-reviewed sources, and when required formulating recommendations on the applicability of this research to PopVax’s projects.
• Identify data sources and execute new project ideas into a quick working prototype.
• Provide high-level scientific expertise for new research projects, contributing to all phases of a project.
• Analyze and interpret challenging clinical and non-clinical data.
• Keep up-to-date on best practices and latest developments in vaccine design.
• Produce high-quality and detailed documentation for all projects in a structured manner.
• Assist senior team members in antigen selection and design for eliciting a broad immune response.
• Assist senior team members in designing and optimizing mRNA sequences for stability and efficient and accurate translation for a given protein sequence.

The ideal candidate will also have:

• Masters in Bioinformatics or a related field with experience in structural (protein) bioinformatics is required for junior scientists. PhD or 4+ years industrial experience required for the Scientist position.
• Excellent literature search and reviewing skills.
• Experience in protein structure modelling and visualization.
• Experience in protein-protein docking.
• Experience in molecular dynamics simulation.
• Experience analyzing raw data from next-generation sequencing data.
• Knowledge of central dogma and translation regulation.
• Proficiency in working in a LINUX environment and in at least one of the standard scientific programming languages like Python or R.
• Knowledge of biological databases and basic bioinformatics tools such as BLAST, Multiple sequence alignment, etc.
• Basic knowledge of immunology.
• Working understanding of machine learning tools.
• Comfortable working as part of a team and capable of working independently.
• A “Yes I can” attitude.