Postdoctoral Researcher

About the Company

The purpose of Idorsia is to discover, develop, and commercialize innovative medicines to help more patients.
Headquartered in Switzerland – a biotech-hub of Europe – Idorsia is a high-potential biopharmaceutical company, specialized in the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative small molecules, with the aim of transforming the horizon of therapeutic options.

We are now looking for a highly motivated Postdoctoral Researcher in CNS Biology/Pharmacology to join our Biological Sciences Group

Job Responsibilities

To strengthen our mode-of-action and disease biology characterization efforts in CNS biology/pharmacology, we are offering a Postdoc position for a highly motivated neurobiologist. The successful candidate will have solid experience with hiPSC-derived neuronal cocultures, as well as basic knowledge of neuronal circuit modeling and analysis. In this role you will investigate the effect of innovative therapeutic agents in neuronal co-culture models of disease using a broad array of readouts. You will complement this with data generated in in vivo disease models.

Responsibilities include:

• Design, perform, analyze, and interpret experiments in iPSC-derived neuronal co-cultures to characterize innovative therapeutic agents for CNS drug discovery
• Set up and optimize electrophysiology, omics, biochemical and immunocytochemistry assays of neuronal cocultures for mechanism-of-action studies
• Introduce disease-causing mutations into iPSC cells (CRISPR) to generate and characterize co-culture-based disease models for above experiments
• Design, perform, analyze, and interpret experiments in rodent CNS disease models
• Set-up autism-relevant behavioral pharmacology assays
• Responsible for efficient planning, detailed analysis, and accurate documentation of experiments
• Presentation of results in a multidisciplinary company environment
• Prepare publication of results in peer reviewed journal.
• Together with colleagues from the scientific computing group, experimentally test and refine computational models for predicted contributions of innovative therapeutic agents to neuronal activity
• Follow novel developments in the field and evaluate application opportunities for CNS drug discovery
• Interact with biologists, pharmacologists, chemists, and computer scientists to drive innovation and advance drug discovery projects

Candidate’s Requirements

• PhD degree in neuroscience or related areas
• Proven track record of generating, optimizing, working with and analyzing hiPSC derived neuronal co-cultures
• Hands-on experience in using multi-electrode arrays for recordings from hiPSC-derived neurons and pharmacological manipulations of the culture conditions
• Practical knowledge of in-vitro and in-vivo models of autism is highly advantageous
• Wet lab experience with current molecular biology tools (e.g. CRISPR) is advantageous
• Hands-on experience with current techniques of rodent handling, substance application, tissue sampling, and behavioral pharmacology
• Solid knowledge of the neurobiology underlying autism spectrum disorders
• A good understanding of ion channels and GPCRs, neuroscience drug discovery, and extensive knowledge of electrophysiology and pharmacology
• Self-starter with strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently
• Enthusiasm, flexibility, and ability to work in a diverse and interdisciplinary environment
• Fluency in English (verbal and written)
• Active LTK license for Switzerland (or FELASA equivalent)