Research Associate Ii, Cote

Research Associate 2, CoTe

Location: San Rafael, CA

Who We Are

BioMarin is a global biotechnology company that relentlessly pursues bold science to translate genetic discoveries into new medicines that advance the future of human health.

Since our founding in 1997, we have applied our scientific expertise in understanding the underlying causes of genetic conditions to create transformative medicines, using a number of treatment modalities.

Using our unparalleled expertise in genetics and molecular biology, we develop medicines for patients with significant unmet medical need. We enlist the best of the best – people with the right technical expertise and a relentless drive to solve real problems – and create an environment that empowers our teams to pursue bold, innovative science. With this distinctive approach to drug discovery, we’ve produced a diverse pipeline of commercial, clinical and preclinical candidates that have well-understood biology and provide an opportunity to be first-to-market or offer a substantial benefit over existing therapeutic options.

About Worldwide Research and Development

From research and discovery to post-market clinical development, our WWRD engine involves all bench and clinical research and the associated groups that support those endeavors. Our teams work on developing first-in-class and best-in-class therapeutics that provide meaningful advances to patients who live with genetic diseases.

The Center of Technology (CoTe) is a centralized laboratory built around platform technologies and made available to scientists and physicians across Worldwide Research and Development (WWRD) of BioMarin. The Mass Spectrometry (MS) Core within the CoTe provides collaboration, expert advice, service, training, and open-access to state-of-the-art MS technologies to the entire scientific community of WWRD. Our lab contains 16 mass spectrometers, including Orbitraps, QQQs, Q-Traps, and Q-TOFs (ESI + MALDI).

We are searching for a highly-motivated research associate 2 (RA2) to develop and implement high-throughput screening (HTS) assays to support a range of candidate discovery projects. This position also offers a unique career opportunity to work on a wide variety of projects that contribute to the entire spectrum of a product lifecycle, from early drug discovery and non-clinical work through all stages of clinical and commercial development. The successful candidate will work directly with colleagues from the CoTe, Research, Translational Sciences, and Clinical to explore a diverse range of disease areas and treatment modalities.

Specifically, we are looking for an RA2 with 2 years of experience in building and performing LC/MS assays for proteins, small molecules, glycans/glycopeptides, and/or oligonucleotides to answer important biological and/or pharmaceutical development questions.

This RA2 position will report to a senior scientist or director within the CoTe and will contribute to a wide spectrum of drug discovery and development programs. This person will develop and implement new MS-centric HTS platforms and interface directly with our Research colleagues. They will design and execute experiments, present results and interpretation in multi-disciplinary project meetings, and contribute to technical documents (e.g., assay development/characterization reports, SOPs, etc.). Consideration will be given to candidates with additional, directly-related experience in HTS-MS program development and/or automation. This person may also evaluate analytical methods and technologies, identify new areas requiring process improvement, adapt existing processes or develop new ones with direct input and supervision from a manager, and may contribute to scientific publications and regulatory submissions, as required.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement MS-based HTS methods for various types of drug leads, including but not limited to, anti-sense oligonucleotides and gene therapy vectors.
• Develop analytical methods and workflows to identify, characterize, and quantify drugs, metabolites and biomarkers in various biological matrices. Techniques may include mass spectrometry, HPLC/UPLC, micro-flow LC and nano-flow LC.
• Clearly and thoroughly document your work in your electronic notebook (Benchling).

• Test various (including non-clinical and clinical) samples and deliver data in a timely manner.
• Present results, interpretation, and conclusions to MS Core team and internal BioMarin clients.
• Author technical documents such as SOPs, assay development/characterization reports and sample testing reports.

• Develop new workflows, or bring in new technology from the outside, to enhance the analytical capabilities of the MS Core or CoTe more broadly.
• Provide training and support to ‘self-service’ users of the MS Core.
• Perform routine instrument maintenance and troubleshooting. Share lab management and maintenance duties.
• Contribute to original peer-reviewed publications and regulatory submissions as required.
• Other duties as assigned.

Education

Bachelors or Masters degree in chemistry, biology or related fields. Established field of expertise in protein chemistry, analytical chemistry, instrumental analysis, proteomics, genomics, or similar.

Experience

Note: This description is not intended to be all-inclusive, or a limitation of the duties of the position. It is intended to describe the general nature of the job that may include other duties as assumed or assigned.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disabled

An Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.

In the U.S., the salary range for this position is $ 77,600 to $ 116,400 per year, which factors in various geographic regions. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate's geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A discretionary bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered.