Principal Scientist Target based Drug Discovery NITD Bay Area

More than 8 million lives are lost every year to infectious and tropical diseases. Within the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD) situated in the San Francisco Bay Area is dedicated to finding new therapies to treat and prevent a range of noncommunicable and infectious conditions, with an emphasis on tropical diseases and viral pathogens. With full access to NIBR know-how, NITD has a highly collaborative culture and maintains close links with academic centers of excellence and a broad range of governmental, non-governmental and philanthropic organizations around the globe (e.g., Wellcome Trust, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Medicines for Malaria Venture, and Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative). NITD is renowned for applying cutting-edge technologies to the discovery of high-quality clinical candidates for the treatment of neglected diseases.<br><br>About the position:<br>We are seeking a chemical biologist with relevant expertise in the target-based assay development and screening of small molecule library; and mechanistic characterization of new chemical entities using enzymatic and biophysical methods. The successful candidate will lead from the bench with design and implementation of biochemical and biophysical assays that support drug discovery. The candidate is expected to have pharma, biotech or academic drug discovery expertise to execute target-based and/or phenotypic high-throughput screening, SAR (Structure-activity relationship)-enabling assays and actively contribute to project ideas. An in-depth knowledge in enzyme kinetics and computational data analysis is a plus.<br><br>Your responsibilities:<br><br>• Design, develop, and implement biochemical target-based high-throughput screening assays and SAR-enabling drug discovery assays using diverse assay platforms to support hit identification to all the way to candidate selection <br>• Lead a multi-disciplinary team of scientists as project team representative or leader <br>• As a core project member or leader contributes to design and implementation of drug discovery flow-chart in close collaboration with other groups<br>• Responsible for biochemical and biophysical characterization of anti-viral or anti-parasitic small molecule inhibitors<br>• Interpret complex results and provide input to multidisciplinary project teams supporting discovery and early preclinical development of drug candidates<br>• Collaborate across disciplines to provide innovative approaches to discovery challenges<br>Troubleshoot assays and instrumentation<br>• Ensure integrity, quality, and timely delivery of data<br>• Communicate research strategy and results internally and externally<br>• Recruit, develop and manage people talent