The successful candidate will be responsible for the execution of enabling activities toward overseeing manufacture and delivery of drug-enhanced cell-based therapies. Nurix’s clinical development programs target protein fate for cancer immunotherapy on its San Francisco campus. Working with the Discovery and Process Development (located at the Pittsburgh campus) organizations, the translational SD/VP:NxACT will be responsible for overseeing and developing additional contract manufacturing sites, overseeing contracts/contract fulfilment, analysis and interpretation of data to guide development of a premier cell therapy organization based on the best scientific information available from internal and contracted sources.
Specific responsibilities include:
- Utilize broad technical expertise in cell and tumor immunology, biochemistry and molecular biology to oversee and implement Nurix’s clinical cell therapy development assets.
- Oversee translational research studies to identify and validate Nurix advanced cell therapy development programs.
- Oversee and integrate human drug enhanced tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (DeTIL) and tech transfer into manufacturing using advanced methods of T cell expansion, and cell culture
- Prioritize early small molecule drug candidates for their ability to enhance growth and focus of anti-tumor DeTIL as therapeutic reagents
- Oversee intersection between CMO and PD in Pittsburgh (NxACT), making sure we are GMP/GLP compliant there and here, establishing measures of DeTIL-01 process, assessment of infusion product, persistence (Phenotype, nanostring, iRepertoire, ATACseq) to enable continuous process improvement
- Implement novel cell therapy strategy with CMO/academic partners manufacturing cells prior to registration campaign; provide oversight and contract development, negotiation
- Build Out Manufacturing Including Expanded QC
- Develop and implement hiring plan, operational elements for Process Development and Manufacturing
- Develop technology transfer from PD to manufacturing and registration strategy for DeTIL
- Develop gap analysis for wholly integrated Immuno-Oncology Company developing, assessing and driving fully differentiated TPPs for cancer
Education and Skills Requirements:
- S. with advanced degree M.D./Ph.D. with >10 years/ experience in cell biology, immunology or related discipline. Industry and management experience is a plus.
- Understanding of biology supporting adoptive cellular therapy as a therapeutic modality.
- Demonstratable experience in multi-color flow cytometry interpretation and characterization of cellular subsets in human blood and tissue is required.
- Ideally, candidate will have training and/or experience in designing and implementing translational research efforts in in vitro functional cell culture assays, including assessments of cytotoxicity, cytokine production and proliferative capacity.
- Ability to troubleshoot and interpret complex data in an independent fashion
- Prior role in multidisciplinary projects and teams with ability to integrate cross-functional information is an advantage
- Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills, creative thinking, problem solving, flexibility and demonstrated ability to harness existing data sets to inform translational research are essential for this role.
- Collaborative spirit and ability to work with project teams, external investigators and contract research organizations.
- Highly motivated, innovative and strong team player. Excellent time management and organizational skills required.
Company
Nurix Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of small molecule therapies designed to modulate cellular protein levels as a novel treatment approach for cancer and immune disorders. Leveraging Nurix’s extensive expertise in E3 ligases together with its proprietary DNA-encoded libraries, Nurix has built DELigase, an integrated discovery platform to identify and advance novel drug candidates targeting E3 ligases, a broad class of enzymes that can modulate proteins within the cell. Nurix’s drug discovery approach is to either harness or inhibit the natural function of E3 ligases within the ubiquitin proteasome system to selectively decrease or increase cellular protein levels.
Nurix’s wholly owned pipeline comprises targeted protein degraders of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase, a B-cell signaling protein, and inhibitors of Casitas B-lineage lymphoma proto-oncogene-B, an E3 ligase that regulates T cell activation. Nurix is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
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