Scientist, Preclinical Pharmacology - Therapeutic Area Expansion

Your Role

EMD Serono in Billerica, MA 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, neuroscience, 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 disease models to evaluate efficacy across therapeutic areas, including immunology, neuroscience, fertility, rare diseases and other therapeutic areas under consideration
• Generate target engagement, pharmacodynamic response, and translational in vivo pharmacology packages 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 across 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
• 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, and GLP compliance across the in vivo function

Translational PK/PD And Biomarker Support

• Execute target engagement marker assays, flow cytometry assays, cytokine/chemokine assays, and support histology/IHC coordination and molecular endpoint integration
• Contribute to the development of translational data packages by integrating PK, biomarker, and pharmacodynamic data under the direction of the Lab Head

Who You Are

Minimum Qualifications

• PhD in Pharmacology, Neuroscience, Immunology, Biology, Physiology or other life science discipline with 4+ years of hands-on in vivo pharmacology experience
• OR Master’s degree in Pharmacology, Neuroscience, Immunology, Biology, Physiology or other life science discipline with 6+ years of hands-on in vivo pharmacology experience
• OR Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacology, Neuroscience, Immunology, Biology, Physiology or other life science discipline with 8+ years of hands-on in vivo pharmacology experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Reproductive Biology, Endocrinology, Pharmacology, Physiology, or Neuroendocrinology
• Demonstrated expertise in disease model execution, relevant routes of administration, and translational PK/PD
• Experience with developing and validating reproductive endocrine models including superovulation, folliculogenesis, luteinisation, corpus luteum maintenance, and/or testicular steroidogenesis
• Significant experience in a pharmaceutical or biotech R&D environment
• Significant experience with protein-based and molecular biomarker assays, specifically Flow Cytometry and including other assay formats including ELISA, MSD, cytokine/chemokine panels, target engagement markers, Olink, NULISA, etc