Scientist, Preclinical Pharmacology - Neuroscience & Immunology

About the 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.

This role does not offer sponsorship for work authorization. External applicants must be eligible to work in the US.

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

Requirements

Minimum Qualifications (one of the following):

• 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
• 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
• 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

Qualifications

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

Pay

Pay Range for this position: $90,400 - $135,700. The offer range represents the anticipated low and high end of the base pay compensation for this position. The actual compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, level of experience, education, skills, and other job-related factors. Position may be eligible for sales or performance-based bonuses.

Benefits

Benefits offered by the Company include health insurance, paid time off (PTO), retirement contributions, and other perquisites.