Histology Lead

Primary Duties

This individual will be responsible for managing the histology core at Spark Therapeutics.  The successful candidate will guide the histology team in their use of histology-based techniques and image analysis to support all the therapeutic areas.

Responsibilities:

• Coordinate workload and establishing timelines to efficiently support all therapeutic area teams through constant interaction and progress updates
• Analysis of tests results to discern if false results were induced through the production process, or through the histological testing process.
• Development and execution of histology-based assays (through external and internal collaboration) including immunohistochemistry (IHC), immunofluorescence (IF) and in-situ hybridization (ISH)
• Supervise in-house qualitative or quantitative image analysis across different tissue staining platforms
• Summarize findings (PowerPoint presentation, research reports etc.) and communicate to peers and management and wider Research and Clinical groups as projects evolve

This individual will also be responsible for maintenance, operation, qualification/validation of histology equipment, as well as training technicians and peers in histological sample handling, histochemical and immunohistochemical technique, imaging and analysis.

Responsibilities

% of Time

Job Function and Description

40%

• Manage histology team workload, ensure adequate resources are allocated, train personnel and peers

30%

• Interact with scientists and therapeutic area leads to ensure full support of histological needs for pre-clinical development within the required timelines

20%

• Hands on protocol development and tissue processing/staining/image acquisition

10%

• Participate in investigations

• Review and revise SOPs

• Maintain equipment and records

• Maintain laboratory safety procedures and compliance records

Education and Experience Requirements

• PhD, DVM, or Masters degree in Biology, immunology, pathology, or related fields.
• Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience
• Experience with CNS and/or Ocular tissue processing/staining is a plus
• Experience in histology-based biomarker assay development and validation
• Experience performing and troubleshooting singleplex and multiplex IHC, IF, and/or ISH assays
• Experience in applying DNA/RNA profiling techniques in formalin-fixed tissue is preferred.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills as well as the ability to work effectively as part of a cross functional team
• Experience in managing people and processes highly preferred

Key Skills, Abilities, and Competencies

.

• Strong organizational skills
• Excellent writing and verbal communication skills
• Independently motivated, detail oriented and good problem solving ability
• Ability to multitask
• Ability to analyze and troubleshoot experiments