Research Investigator/Senior Research Investigator

Research Investigator/Senior Research Investigator (Translational Biologist), London

Isomorphic Labs is a new Alphabet company that is reimagining drug discovery through a computational- and AI-first approach.

We are on a mission to accelerate the speed, increase the efficacy and lower the cost of drug discovery. You'll be working at the cutting edge of the new era of 'digital biology' to deliver a transformative social impact for the benefit of millions of people.

Come and be part of a multi-disciplinary team driving groundbreaking innovation and play a meaningful role in contributing towards us achieving our ambitious goals, while being a part of an inspiring, collaborative and entrepreneurial culture.

Your impact

Isomorphic labs are seeking exceptional individuals to join an impactful translational biology sub team within our translational science team working in multidisciplinary ML based drug discovery medical research.

These roles would be ideal for experienced translational biologists with a skill for designing fit for purpose screening cascades to provide robust experimental evidence that our ML designed medicines will have the desired therapeutic product profiles (TPPs).

This is an exciting opportunity to work closely with world leading AI, ML and drug design experts to develop imaginative new ways to test biological hypotheses building a deep mechanistic understanding of drug target interactions in disease to drive our projects forward. You will be responsible for establishing and implementing translational strategies, advancing our oncology, immunology and partnership portfolios from early Drug Discovery through to Candidate Selection and ultimately to Clinical Phase work.

You will have experience of working broadly across drug discovery projects and have the ability to think originally and critically, knowing when to apply innovative approaches, and think with a beginner's approach.

What you will do

• Contribute to biological screening cascades for a variety of internal and partnered drug design programs, with a focus on translation of preclinical studies into clinical efficacy in the target patient population
• Play a critical role in defining the most appropriate model paradigm (in vivo, ex-vivo patient derived tissue etc) for each project’s translational package, including developing a biomarker strategy to deliver early clinical proof of concept
• Work with CRO’s to design decision-making experiments, and deliver the highest quality biological data to inform the path to the clinic
• Provide expertise to the AI/ML/computational biology teams in developing world leading models of biological systems
• Distil biological data into useful insights and recommendations for project leaders, project team members, and partners
• Be closely integrated within or be leading projects to provide strategic input to deliver project success
• Contribute relevant internal and supporting regulatory documentation for preclinical and clinical work
• Work cross-functionally with the Drug Design and Technology teams

Skills and qualifications

Essential:

• BSc, MSc or PhD in a relevant field of biology
• Deep understanding of the interdependent relationships between targets, mechanisms and diseases preferable in oncology and/immunology
• Bring expert knowledge of current innovative translational models, with a focus on oncology and/or immune disorders
• Extensive experience in pharma/biotech of developing TPPs and converting these into key aspects of biological screening cascades to direct projects towards impactful medicines
• Proven track record of constructing translational data packages and biomarker strategies to inform clinical trial design
• Previous experience designing PK-PD experiments to inform human dose prediction
• Have worked with ADMET, Formulation, Clinical Pharmacology specialists in refining preclinical and clinical strategies
• Knowledge of target liability assessments
• Knows when to phase translational biology activities, working collaboratively with key stakeholders to ensure the relevant interdependencies are proactviely considered to effectively and efficiently generate relevant data
• Managed the generation of complex datasets via external CRO relationships
• Driven and focussed approach to achieve the goal of Candidate delivery in the most efficient manner through robust discussions with key collaborators and project leaders
• Dynamic, agile, and flexible individual who can work across many projects, therapeutic areas, and multi-disciplinary teams
• Can capitalise on computational biology expertise to devise approaches to enhance translational biology decision making within drug discovery projects
• Collaborative and inclusive mentality to partner across teams to drive shared learning
• Be an effective communicator across a broad interdisciplinary team, working collaboratively with others with different skills and backgrounds

Nice to have:

• Project leadership or biology domain area leadership within drug discovery programs
• Track record of contributing to drug design projects which have delivered Clinical Candidates
• Consistent track record of influence on projects such as de-risking strategies, anticipating longer term issues, and inspiring change in Medicinal Chemistry SAR strategies
• Solid understanding of the competitive landscape in oncology and o/or immunology/inflammation
• Working knowledge of translational biological assays as applied to alternative modalities or alternative chemistries e.g ADCs or molecular glues
• Knowledge/Concept of machine learning modelling applied to biological systems
• Experience of working with multiple biological mechanisms, disease indications and routes of administration
• Good understanding of Medicinal Chemistry concepts and comfortable discussing small molecule approaches and strategies