Head of Translational Biology

Overview

Earli exists to make cancer a benign experience. Earli does that by turning cancers against themselves: genetically forcing them to reveal themselves early, and then kill themselves – precisely and clearly distinguishable from benign lesions at early stages. Based on original technology from Stanford’s Gambhir lab, Earli designs genetic constructs that are injected intravenously that turn cancer cells against themselves. These programmable synthetic promoter-reporter sequences flip on like light switches only in dysregulated cancer cells and turn them into "factories."

The cancer is forced to produce either an epitope “docking station” for imaging agents, or a cytokine for immune system activation against the tumor. Thus, Earli’s platform enables immediate diagnosis and treatment of early cancers, rather than long-term observation that can lead to deadly metastatic recurrence. Earli’s synthetic target expression platform has evolved over five years of deep bioengineering. The system can now detect broad ranges of patient mutations, distinguish between malignant and benign lesions, and offer independence from often elusive natural biomarkers.

• You share our same sense of dedication, scientific passion and entrepreneurial spirit
• You work well in a fast-paced and extremely focused startup environment
• You are not only smart, but clever and constantly think outside the box
• You are able to make logical decisions in an instant when there is little time to evaluate
• You are a natural communicator and relationship builder
• You stay calm under high pressure and stress
• You have the ability to multi-task in a serious way, with an extreme attention to detail
• You become a representative of the core DNA of the company through who you are

Earli is currently seeking a Head of Translational Biology to oversee and lead the translational/in vivo biology group. The successful candidate will have a proven track record of successfully initiating and managing pharmacology and translational science projects across oncology indications from Discovery through IND enabling studies. She/he will be responsible for working with the existing scientific leadership for the design and planning of in vivo preclinical studies to characterize the efficacy, PK/PD and safety properties of Earli’s proprietary compounds.

This position will report to the Chief Scientific Officer.

• Oversee and manage the Translational Biology group at Earli to support the growth and expansion of the team
• Proactively foster the growth of team members and identify opportunities for staff to develop into top-tier, independent pharmacology team members
• Help lead strategic planning and oversight of internal and external efforts to assess efficacy and safety testing of Earli’s compounds for therapeutic applications across multiple pre-clinical in vivo models.
• Be the key external stakeholder to select and oversee CROs to conduct GLP safety and toxicology studies
• Ensure the production of high-quality technical reports including statistical analyses and data integrity review to support regulatory submissions
• Present key findings at internal and external meetings

• Ph.D. in Pharmacology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Toxicology or related discipline
• DABT preferred, but not required.
• Candidates with a Pharm.
  
  D. or M.S. and 8 or more years leading nonclinical safety programs will be considered, especially with a background in the development of nucleic acid-based drugs.

• Proven track record leading nonclinical safety and PK strategies to support development of nucleic acid therapeutics through IND filing.
• A deep understanding in the design of safety and efficacy studies of mRNA-LNPs (and ideally DNA-LNPs) using a multi-dose regimen. Translatability of those results into human clinical use is highly desired.
• Strong and documented first hand experience in leveraging standard oncology models such as syngeneic, orthotopic, metastatic and GEMM/transgenic cancer models for the use in therapeutics development
• Proven ability to oversee the development of new model systems. Experience…