Scientist II, Neurobiology Target Validation  and Drug Discovery - Valo Health

About the Role...  

Valo is looking for a Scientist II to play a pivotal role in wet-lab target validation and assay development for neurodegenerative disease targets, with an initial focus on Parkinson’s disease, that have been identified using Valo’s human-centric Opal computational platform.  This role will also support drug discovery program goals including compound and biological mechanism of action and cellular efficacy model studies.   

 The Scientist II will have a passion for translating human data insights into new therapies for complex neurodegenerative diseases.  The Scientist II will work cross-functionally with subject matter experts, computational scientists, and engineers in a team-based environment to bring forward novel and creative solutions to target validation.   Your work will build confidence in the translation of candidate drug targets to diseases of interest.  You will also develop assays to characterize and address specific questions related to drug development of selected targets 

As a key bench scientist, you will execute experiments to deliver validation data packages, and present results to internal and external stakeholders. This work will be done with a high degree of reliability, efficiency, and accuracy to allow key decisions on Valo targets.  

What You’ll Do…   

Your primary areas of responsibility will be:     

• Generate experimental plans and execute at the bench to enable validation of novel therapeutic targets, address biological questions related to target drug discovery, and inform compound mechanism of action  

• Develop and build well controlled human functional cellular assays in neuronal, glia, and other CNS relevant cell types to enable characterization of novel drug targets   

• Perform experiments and generate data in the laboratory with a high degree of reliability, efficiency, and accuracy to support target validation projects.   

• Work in collaboration with other Valo scientists to progress target validation and drug development aligned with company goals  
  
  
• Generate data with high quality standards and document within an electronic lab notebook  
  
  
• Stay current on emerging trends and advancements in the field   

What You Bring…   

• A PhD in Biological Sciences or a related field with 2+ years of experience (or MS with 6+ years of experience or a BS with 8+ years of experience)  

• Expertise in one or more of the following areas: Neurobiology, Neurodegenerative disease, Parkison’s disease, cell biology  

• Expertise in neuronal and neurodegenerative disease models (e.g. experience with PFF seeding models (α–synuclein) and iPSC dopaminergic neuronal culture)  

• Experience in human in vitro systems including primary cell culture and iPSC differentiation with neuronal cell types (neurons, microglia, astrocytes, co-culture systems), molecular biology, and genetic manipulation (CRISPR, siRNA, overexpression systems)  

• Experience in assay development with functional readouts (neuronal function, cell death assay, phagocytosis, cellular function and morphology, western blotting, ELISA, imaging (ICC/IF), qPCR/RT-qPCR)  

• Strong oral and written communication, presentation and interpersonal skills    

• Track record of impactful scientific contributions as demonstrated by high impact publications   
  
  
• Experience collaborating with multidisciplinary teams   

You May Also Bring…    

• Experience in human in vitro systems including cell culture and functional assays related to Parkinson’s disease  

• Experience with organoids or 2D/3D models  

• Experience with barrier models looking at BBB structure and function  

• Experience working in in vivo/ex vivo systems   

• Experience in discovery stage preclinical drug discovery programs and with target validation projects