Ex Vivo Neuroscientist

Role Summary

The Neuroscience Disease Area within Biomedical Research at Novartis is a global research organization striving to develop impactful medicines for people living with severe neurological diseases. We are seeking a highly motivated scientist to join the Neuroscience DA in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This hands-on position will be to support project teams working on new therapies for neurodegeneration indications through the development of ex vivo models and evaluation of functional endpoints via electrophysiological and immunohistochemical studies. The successful candidate will interact with cross-functional project teams and therefore teamwork and good communication skills are key.

Responsibilities

• Hands-on execution of cellular and network electrophysiological studies in cell culture and/or in brain slices to characterize molecules for potential therapeutic effects.
• Immunohistochemical analysis of protein expression in brain slices
• Optimization of experimental protocols for evaluation of functional measures
• Analyze, interpret data and present summary to project teams
• Write experimental protocols and record experiments in electronic notebook
• Present results in unit and department meetings
• Strong teamwork skills and a good lab partner

Qualifications

• Required: A minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience or related discipline and a minimum of 4+ years of laboratory-based industrial or academic experience
• Required: Hands-on experience working with rodents
• Required: Familiarity with in vitro/ex vivo electrophysiology i.e. whole cell patch clamp, high throughput electrophysiology platforms, or extracellular field potential recordings
• Required: Experience with immunohistochemistry or immunocytochemistry
• Required: Interest in troubleshooting data anomalies to maintain high data quality
• Required: Patience and attention to detail are essential
• Required: Interest in learning about brain diseases, drug targets and new techniques
• Required: Experience with statistical analyses and application to biological data
• Required: Proficiency with Microsoft Office (Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint)
• Required: Flexibility and willingness to occasionally adjust working hours as required by specific experiments
• Preferred: Priority will be given to candidates with experience in acute brain slice electrophysiology
• Preferred: Familiarity with scientific/analytical software packages/platforms (e.g. IGOR Pro, Fiji, GraphPad, MATLAB, Python, R). Programming experience is a plus.

Skills

• Electrophysiology techniques (whole-cell patch clamp, extracellular recordings)
• Immunohistochemistry and immunocytochemistry
• Data analysis and interpretation of biological data
• Software proficiency: IGOR Pro, Fiji, GraphPad, MATLAB, Python, R
• Documentation in electronic notebooks
• Strong collaboration and communication with cross-functional teams