Zoetis

Post-Doctoral Scientist – Vaccine Immune Profiling

Zoetis Veterinary Medicine Research and Development (VMRD), Analytical Sciences Department in Kalamazoo, MI is seeking a Post-Doctoral scientist to evaluate, optimize and adapt various immune profiling platforms for companion animal and livestock vaccines. The assay platforms will be correlated to host animal cellular and humoral immunity.

Position Summary

Zoetis is the largest animal health company in the world with an industry-leading research and development team. We are recruiting a highly motivated Post-Doctoral scientist to evaluate and adapt cell-based in vitro assays for use in viral or bacterial vaccine immune response profiling and to assess their potential application in vaccine development. This position will require an overall understanding of methodologies used to assess vaccine induced protective immune responses (both cellular and antibody). The successful candidate will have working knowledge of antibody, cytokine, cell proliferation or cytotoxicity-based immunoassays using peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PMBCs) or other lymphoid tissues from animals. The incumbent is expected to work in a collaborative multidisciplinary team environment through interacting with scientists from a variety of functional lines within as well as with collaborators identified externally. In addition, the incubent is expected to be familiar and use conventional and new vaccine monitoring methodologies currently available at Zoetis (e.g. flow cytometry, ELISA, ELISpot, cell sorting, mutiplex cytokine assays) for evaluating humoral and cellular immune responses. Fulfillment of job responsibilities requires the candidate to leverage scientific and technical advancements in areas of single cell technology, molecular biology, and transgenic cell line generation and to think creatively to standardize in vitro cell-based immunoassays to consistently monitor vaccine quality.

Position Responsibilities

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:

• Review and assess scientific literature, external research institutions/companies, and novel technology areas to develop recommendations for applied immune assay development.
• Prepare and purify immune cells from naïve or vaccinated animals.
• Design and conduct experiments to evaluate relevant antibody or cellular immune responses for in vitro immune cell culture before and after vaccine stimulation, with a focus on dose-dependent response investigation and in vivo correlation.
• Improve assay consistency, accuracy, and precision with a goal of standardizing assays for use in qualification of vaccines.
• Document, report, and communicate results in electronic laboratory notebooks, technical reports, PowerPoint presentations, and oral presentations. 
• Interface with other scientists in a variety of functional lines including Global Biological Research (GBR), Global Therapeutic Research (GTR), and Analytical Sciences (AS).
• Manage collaborations with external partners on in vitro immune model evaluation and conduct studies in Zoetis as needed to support external projects.
• Evaluate new technologies such as single immune cell isolation and transgenic cell line generation to determine their applicability for in vitro immunoassay development.

Preferred Experience

Expertise in animal immunobiology. Hands on experience in preparation of PBMC and cells from lymphoid tissues. Familiarity with cell sorting techniques is an advantage. Experience in antibody, cytokine, and T cell assay techniques such as ELISA, multiplex immunoassays, ELISpot, flow cytometric analysis of immune cell surface markers, cell cytotoxicity, opsonic/agglutination/adherence, and cell proliferation assays. Track record of academic or industrial accomplishments in immunological research and analytical immunoassay optimization. Knowledge in molecular biology, single cell technology, and transgenic cell line development. Proven ability to keep up with scientific and technical advancement in biomedical research and to evaluate new technologies.

Minimum Qualifications:

• PhD in immunology, veterinary sciences or other closely related disciplines with 0-3 years relevant research experience is preferred;

The ideal candidate would possess:

• Good oral and written communication skills
• Industrial or academic experience in a laboratory setting, specifically in bacterial or viral immunoassays
• Ability to work efficiently in a group setting and to collaborate with external partners.

Full time

Regular

Colleague

Zoetis is committed to equal opportunity in the terms and conditions of employment for all employees and job applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or gender expression, national origin, disability or veteran status or any other protected classification. Disabled individuals are given an equal opportunity to use our online application system. We offer reasonable accommodations as an alternative if requested by an individual with a disability. Please contact Zoetis Colleague Services at zoetiscolleagueservices@zoetis.com to request an accommodation. Zoetis also complies with all applicable national, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment as well as employment eligibility verification requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act. All applicants must possess or obtain authorization to work in the US for Zoetis. Zoetis retains sole and exclusive discretion to pursue sponsorship for the acquisition or maintenance of nonimmigrant status and employment eligibility, considering factors such as availability of qualified US workers. Individuals requiring sponsorship must disclose this fact. Please note that Zoetis seeks information related to job applications from candidates for jobs in the U.S. solely via the following: (1) our company website at www.Zoetis.com/careers site, or (2) via email to/from addresses using only the Zoetis domain of “@zoetis.com”. In addition, Zoetis does not use Google Hangout for any recruitment related activities. Any solicitation or request for information related to job applications with Zoetis via any other means and/or utilizing email addresses with any other domain should be disregarded. In addition, Zoetis will never ask candidates to make any type of personal financial investment related to gaining employment with Zoetis.