Scientist/Senior Scientist

Department: Research
Location: South San Francisco
 

COMPANY INTRODUCTION:

Nkarta Therapeutics, Inc.is a private biotech start-up that is harnessing the power of Natural Killer cells in developing next generation cellular immunotherapies for cancer. NK cells play a key role in the body’s immune system, able to identify and kill abnormal cells by monitoring their expression of activating and inhibitory receptors and recruit the adaptive immune system.  

Nkarta will combine its NK expansion platform with further proprietary cell engineering technologies to build differentiated products designed to tackle challenging diseases with significant unmet clinical need.

We are seeking a highly motivated Scientist/Senior Scientist to join our early discovery and development team. The ideal candidate will interact closely with group leaders, scientists and research associate to drive discovery and development of new therapeutics to pre-clinical development.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Expert knowledge to help lead company efforts to develop next generation chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) based cellular therapies to support company pipelines

  • Optimize and select lead CAR designs to enhance NK cell functions

  • Works independently on experimental design, executing and troubleshooting experiments both in vitro and in vivo

  • Collaborate with in vivo group to design and oversee in vivo CAR NK experiments

  • Demonstrate ability to work in a collaborative team environment

REQUIREMENTS:

  • Strong background in immunology and in-depth experience in the principles and practices of cellular immunology and cell biology methodologies, including primary human/mouse immune cell isolation, culture, differentiation/activation, cell transfection and viral transduction

  • Thorough understanding of CAR based cell therapy; a working knowledge of CAR engineering and both in vitro and in vivo cell therapy assays is preferred

  • Proficient in immune phenotyping of cultured immune cells using multi-color FACs and FlowJo-based data analysis

  • Experience with NK or CAR-T based cancer therapy is preferred

  • Ability to work on complex problems where analysis requires an evaluation of multiple factors

  • Exercises independent judgment in performing experimental methods, techniques, evaluation criteria for obtaining results, and data analysis

  • Strong verbal and writing skills for documentation of data, drafting of technical reports, and communication of progress to supervisor and project teams

  • Must be able to communicate and multi-task within a fast-paced start-up environment with a high degree of self-motivation and organization

QUALIFICATIONS/SKILLS:

  • Ph.D in immunology, cancer biology or related filed

  • Minimum 2 years of relevant experience


Nkarta offers a creative, team-oriented scientific environment, along with a strong compensation package that includes salary, stock options, and a comprehensive benefits package.

To apply, Attach your CV Here