Scientist, Molecular Pharmacology chez MapLight Therapeutics
MapLight Therapeutics · Redwood City, États-Unis d'Amérique · Onsite
- Junior
- Bureau à Redwood City
Who We Are: MapLight Therapeutics is a clinical stage biotech company that focuses on drug discovery for central nervous system disorders. We combine cutting-edge technologies including optogenetics, in vivo physiology, and spatial transcriptomics to identify novel drug targets and develop effective therapies to address psychiatric symptoms.
What You’ll Do: The Scientist will be responsible for designing, executing, and analyzing pharmacological studies focused on GPCR targets. The ideal candidate will have strong expertise in compound screening, assay development, and process optimization to enable high-quality, reproducible data generation in support of discovery programs.
Responsibilities:
- Design, optimize, and execute cell-based and biochemical assays to evaluate compound activity at GPCR targets.
- Develop and validate assays for screening campaigns in close collaboration with chemistry and biology teams.
- Implement and refine automation workflows and liquid handling protocols to increase throughput and improve efficiency.
- Contribute to process development by identifying bottlenecks and building scalable, reproducible systems for compound testing.
- Analyze, interpret, and present data to cross-functional project teams, contributing to decision-making and prioritization.
- Maintain thorough documentation of experimental design, results, and SOPs.
Qualifications:
- PhD. in Pharmacology, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, or a related discipline with 0–2 years of industry experience; or M.S. with 3–5 years relevant experience.
- Strong background in GPCR pharmacology and receptor signaling pathways.
- Hands-on experience with binding assays, reporter assays, second messenger assays (e.g., cAMP, Ca²⁺), and label-free technologies.
- Demonstrated expertise in assay development and validation.
- Experience with laboratory automation and liquid handling.
- Familiarity with high-throughput screening (HTS) is a plus.
- Excellent problem-solving skills with the ability to troubleshoot assays and optimize workflows.
- Strong communication and presentation skills; proven ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams.
EEOC Statement: MapLight Therapeutics is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
