ROLE SUMMARY

The Primary Pharmacology Group (PPG) at Pfizer is seeking a Principal Scientist to join the High Content Screening laboratory at our Groton, CT campus supporting hit identification and lead optimization for the small molecule portfolio across all therapeutic areas in Worldwide Research & Development.

As part of PPG within the Discovery Sciences department, this individual will apply his expertise in the design of disease relevant high content imaging assays to support target discovery and validation, hit identification approaches, and lead optimization efforts for both target-based and phenotypic screening project. Additional areas of focus include characterization of cellular models, exploratory work to validate therapeutic hypotheses as well as mechanistic studies to understand molecular mechanisms of compounds.

The successful candidate will focus on cell-based high content screening and compound profiling using high-throughput automated platforms and unbiased profiling methods such as Cell-Painting (Image-based phenotypic profiling) and Drug-Seq (high-throughput RNA-Seq) to support programs for all disease areas (cardiovascular and kidney diseases, oncology, inflammation and immunity, neuropathy, and muscular dystrophies).

The ideal candidate will have expertise in cell-based imaging assays and image analysis methods using machine learning and deep learning approaches. The candidate should also be very familiar with the development of computational methods to analyze multi-parametric assay results and the integration and interpretation of complex data sets.

The successful candidate will combine strong technical/scientific rigor and problem-solving skills with a demonstrated ability to energize and lead high-performing teams, to drive impact across multiple drug discovery programs. They should therefore possess strong collaborative and written/verbal communication skills, and demonstrate an eager personal drive and strong leadership skills.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead high-content imaging/cell painting and phenotypic screening assay development.
• Develop and deploy machine learning data analysis pipelines.
• Deliver Compound profiling to biology and chemistry teams using cell painting and Drug-seq platforms.
• Communicate data interpretation using biological and pharmacological context by extrapolating target deconvolution and mechanism of action hypotheses.
• Collaborate with computational sciences and statistics departments to generate multi-omics datasets (proteomics, genomics, transcriptomics ...) to assist phenotypic signature deconvolution, mechanism of action elucidation, lead compound selection and characterization.
• Represent Primary Pharmacology Group and Discovery Sciences as a subject matter expert to cross-functional teams within Pfizer WRD and at external conferences.
• Opportunities to publish and to recruit summer interns or postdocs when necessary.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS      

• Ph.D. in cell-biology, bioinformatics, computer science or a related discipline with 5+ years of industry experience.
• Expert in Phenotypic screening and High content imaging assay development
• Significant experience developing Image analysis, computational pipeline, machine learning and visualization tools.
• Execute data analysis with existing cell painting ad RNA-seq cloud pipelines to generate compound profiles and Mechanism of Action hypotheses
• Fluency in one or more programming languages in the Unix environment, Python, SQL or R.
• Experience with handling complex data types (transcriptomics, proteomics, genomics, metabolomics)
• Excellent track record of external publications and professional service.
• Outstanding outreach, teamwork and communication abilities are essential.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience with NGS and functional genomics would be advantageous.
• Deep Learning method development.