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Job Title: Postdoctoral Scientist — Neurodegeneration
Organization Overview
Lilly Neuroscience NGTx is a pre-clinical development team based at the Seaport Innovation Center in Boston alongside Lilly's Boston Neurodegeneration group. The team develops and applies human iPSC-derived in vitro platforms to evaluate compound safety, potency, and efficacy across CNS therapeutic modalities. These platforms are a critical node in Lilly's neuroscience pre-clinical pipeline, supporting high-priority programs targeting amyloid forming proteins across Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and other neurodegenerative conditions. This postdoctoral position will extend the established tri-culture system into disease-relevant pathological contexts, creating a pharmacologically responsive platform for compound assessment in neurodegeneration.
Responsibilities
The postdoctoral researcher will lead establishment of amyloid forming protein pathology models in a human iPSC-derived tri-culture system (neurons, astrocytes, microglia). They will also apply those disease-context models to assess therapeutic compound behavior across Lilly's neuroscience modalities. Specific responsibilities include:
- Establish seed and preformed fibril (PFF)-based pathology models in the iPSC tri-culture system for multiple amyloid forming proteins, characterizing seeding efficiency, aggregate formation, and timing parameters for each.
- Perform systematic mono- vs. co- vs. tri-culture comparisons to quantify the multicellular gain in neurotoxicity and neuroinflammatory responses across culture configurations.
- Characterize microglial activation and cytokine release profiles (multiplex MSD cytokine profiling) and neurotoxicity in response to pathological insults.
- Execute a systematic species-ranking study comparing aggregate forms of amyloid forming proteins (monomers, oligomers, and fibrillar preparations) for neurotoxic and neuroinflammatory potency in the human multicellular context.
- Evaluate publishable tool compounds (siRNAs, antibodies) and internal proprietary compounds for potency, cellular uptake, and safety in healthy vs. pathological tri-culture.
- Generate paired healthy vs. disease-context datasets to directly compare compound behavior, providing decision-support data for LRL neurodegeneration programs.
- Publish as first author and present findings at internal and external forums.
Basic Requirements
- PhD in Neuroscience, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, or a closely related field.
- Demonstrated hands-on experience with iPSC culture and/or primary neuron culture systems.
- Prior experience with in vitro neurodegenerative disease modeling, including PFF seeding, protein aggregation assays, or amyloid forming protein biology.
- Qualified applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. Lilly will not provide support for or sponsor work authorization or visas for this role, including but not limited to F-1 CPT, F-1 OPT, F-1 STEM OPT, J-1, H-1B, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, or L-1.
Additional Skills/Preferences
- Experience with neuronal co- or tri-culture systems incorporating glia (astrocytes and/or microglia).
- Proficiency in high-content imaging, immunofluorescence (ICC-IF), and image analysis pipelines.
- Prior work with neuroinflammation assays, including multiplex cytokine profiling (e.g., MSD, Luminex).
- Experience with CNS therapeutic modality assessment (siRNAs, antibodies, or small molecules in cell-based assays).
- Proven ability to independently design, execute, and troubleshoot multi-parametric cell-based experiments.
- Demonstrated scientific productivity, including peer-reviewed publications.
- Strong collaborative instincts and interest in translational drug discovery in an industry setting.
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Lilly is proud to be an EEO Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender identity, sex, gender expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, ancestry, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status.
Our employee resource groups (ERGs) offer strong support networks for their members and are open to all employees. Our current groups include: Africa, Middle East, Central Asia (AMECA), Black Employees at Lilly (BE@Lilly), Chinese Culture Network (CCN), EnAble, Evolve, Lilly Indian Network (LIN), Organization of Latinx at Lilly (OLA), Pride (LGBTQ+ Allies), Veterans Leadership Network (VLN) and Women’s Initiative for Leading at Lilly (WILL).
Actual compensation will depend on a candidate’s education, experience, skills, and geographic location. The anticipated wage for this position is
$58,000 - $123,200
Full-time equivalent employees also will be eligible for a company bonus (depending, in part, on company and individual performance). In addition, Lilly offers a comprehensive benefit program to eligible employees, including eligibility to participate in a company-sponsored 401(k); pension; vacation benefits; eligibility for medical, dental, vision and prescription drug benefits; flexible benefits (e.g., healthcare and/or dependent day care flexible spending accounts); life insurance and death benefits; certain time off and leave of absence benefits; and well-being benefits (e.g., employee assistance program, fitness benefits, and employee clubs and activities).Lilly reserves the right to amend, modify, or terminate its compensation and benefit programs in its sole discretion and Lilly’s compensation practices and guidelines will apply regarding the details of any promotion or transfer of Lilly employees.
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