Scientist, Preclinical Pharmacology - Neuroscience & Immunology

Your Role

EMD Serono is hiring a Scientist II, Preclinical Pharmacology. This position reports to the Principal Scientist / Lab Head and is accountable for the independent scientific execution of in vivo pharmacology studies supporting programs across immunology and inflammation (I&I), neuroscience, fertility and other therapeutic areas. This role contributes to translational PK/PD and biomarker strategies, executes disease-model studies across multiple therapeutic areas, operating with a high degree of technical independence.

Responsibilities

Scientific & Pharmacology

• Establish, validate, optimize, and troubleshoot fit-for-purpose in vivo disease models — including acute and chronic disease-relevant models — to defined validation milestones and reproducibility criteria
• Build and apply immunological and/or neurological disease models to evaluate efficacy, target engagement, pharmacodynamic response, and translational relevance of novel therapeutic approaches, delivering study-ready data packages on schedule and in compliance with protocol and quality standards

In Vivo Pharmacology

• Hands on execution of in vivo pharmacology studies in disease models — including dosing via IV, SC, IP, PO, ICV, and IT routes, blood and CSF sampling, tissue collection, and necropsy — delivering study-ready samples on schedule and in compliance with protocol and quality standards
• Perform and support surgical procedures relevant to broad set of pharmacology assays, including but not limited to surgical models, ICV/IT administration, stereotaxic injections, surgical recovery monitoring, and clinical scoring, to define procedural and welfare standards
• Support in vivo pharmacology studies by conducting broad, standardized assessments of functional, behavioral, and physiological endpoints across preclinical disease models, enabling robust evaluation of treatment-related effects
• Support biomarker strategy execution, including fluid, tissue, molecular, inflammatory, and translatable biomarker readouts
• Manage CRO partnerships and external study execution, extending the laboratory’s capacity and geographic reach, ensuring program timelines are maintained without compromising scientific standards
• Champion IACUC & AAALAC compliance across the in vivo function

Translational PK/PD And Biomarker Support

• Conduct PK sampling in rodents, including plasma, tissue, and disease-area-relevant matrix collection to support exposure and target engagement assessments
• Execute target engagement marker assays, cytokine/chemokine assays, and support histology/IHC coordination and molecular endpoint integration

Who You Are

Minimum Qualifications

• PhD in Pharmacology, Neuroscience, Immunology, Physiology, or other life science discipline with 4+ years of drug discovery experience in a pharmaceutical or biotech industry setting
• OR Master’s degree in Pharmacology, Neuroscience, Immunology, Physiology, or other life science discipline with 6+ years of drug discovery experience in a pharmaceutical or biotech industry setting
• OR Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacology, Neuroscience, Immunology, Physiology, or other life science discipline with 8+ years of drug discovery experience in a pharmaceutical or biotech industry setting

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with neurological or neurodegenerative disease models (e.g., dopaminergic lesion, alpha-synuclein models, neuroinflammation models)
• Experience with advanced functional or behavioral assays relevant to at least one disease area (e.g., motor/cognitive for CNS, automated video tracking or home-cage monitoring platforms)
• Significant experience with protein-based and molecular biomarker assays (Flow Cytometry, ELISA, MSD, cytokine/chemokine panels, target engagement markers, Olink, NULISA, etc)
• Expertise in at least one of the following disease areas: immunology and inflammation, neuroscience and neurodegeneration, fertility, endocrinology or rare diseases