Job Description

Job Title: Research Intern, Quantitative Biosciences Singapore

At our Company, we are committed to be the premier, research-intensive, biopharmaceutical company, dedicated to providing leading innovations and solutions for today and the future. Our mission is to discover, develop and provide medicines and vaccines that save and improve lives around the world. We strive to transform breakthrough science into novel therapeutics and vaccines, applying our scientific curiosity to drive the invention of solutions to some of the world\'s most challenging diseases. Many begin in our research laboratories, where we push the boundaries of science with the hope and expectation that the medicines and vaccines we invent will lead to better health for society for generations to come.

In Singapore, our research centre focuses on identifying and validating new drug targets, exploring innovative therapeutic modalities, and leveraging clinical studies and patient\xe2\x80\x93derived material to understand biomarkers of disease or therapeutic response, increasing our understanding of human biology and driving our therapeutic pipeline to address unmet medical needs. Our state-of-the-art laboratory supports discovery biology and translational medicine and is an integral part of our Company\'s world-class network for drug and vaccine discovery. The department\'s mission is to identify and validate novel targets across various therapeutic areas with multiple discovery biology units.

mRNA is proving a versatile gene therapy platform, with the success of the COVID-19 vaccines fueling expansion of mRNA medicines across multiple therapeutic areas. A limiting factor in the systemic use of mRNA is achieving tissue and cell specific expression. This is especially pertinent in oncology, where a therapeutic protein needs to be preferentially expressed in cancerous but not healthy cells. One way that this can be achieved is through the incorporation of specific microRNA target sites to limit expression to cell populations lacking the microRNA. Pioneering work applying this methodology to an mRNA encoding for a pro-apoptotic protein limited cell death to certain cancer cells, thus reducing off-target toxicity (Jain et al., 2018). Given the genetic heterogeneity in cancer, determining which mircoRNAs can limit expression to certain cancerous cells presents an exciting area of research.

What You Will Do:

This project aims to further explore which pro-apoptotic proteins, and combinations of microRNAs, can most efficiently drive selective cancer cell death. Candidates will be carrying out exploratory work with the potential to contribute to the development of next generation of mRNA medicines.

As an intern within our research laboratories, you will gain the opportunity to work with talented and dedicated scientists, learn from leading industry experts, gain exposure and professional experience working for a research-driven enterprise; and use your passion, creativity, knowledge and collaboration skills to find solutions to challenging problems in your day-to-day work.

At the end of the internship, the candidate would:

• Gain hands-on experience in different molecular biology, cell biology and high-throughput screening techniques.

• Develop deeper understanding of steps involved in assay development for drug discovery.

• Deep dive into RNA biology and optimization of mRNA therapeutics

• Develop scientific thinking and communication skills through scientific writing and presentations.

:

• Design, synthesize and test mRNA constructs for their ability to drive cancer cell-specific apoptosis

• Maintain in vitro 2D cell cultures and perform cell-based assays.

• Perform data analysis and develop methods to quantify mRNA half-lives.

• Document relevant experiments and results in electronic notebooks

• Participate, communicate, and present research results in internal scientific discussions between cross-functional teams

Qualification:

Enrolment in an Undergraduate or Master\xe2\x80\x99s program leading to a Degree in a Biomedical Sciences, Biological Sciences or Life Sciences-related discipline. Other programs can be considered on individual merit.

Preferred Experience and Skills:

• Working knowledge of laboratory-based methodologies such as aseptic cell culture, molecular biology, imaging, and quantitative plate-based detection techniques.

• Hands-on laboratory experience preferred.

• Ability to work with minimal supervision.

• Strong written and oral communication skills

Who We Look For:

• Strong interest in working in a research-intensive environment.

• Excellent communication and facilitation skills

• Interpersonal skills necessary for working in a highly collaborative, cross-functional environment.
• A positive, proactive, can-do attitude

• Strong problem-solving skills

• Availability for 6 months in a full-time capacity preferred

References

Jain, Ruchi, et al. "MicroRNAs enable mRNA therapeutics to selectively program cancer cells to self-destruct." Nucleic acid therapeutics 28.5 (2018): 285-296.

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Current Contingent Workers apply

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Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Rahway, NJ, USA, does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs / resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at our company without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of our company. No fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by our company as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails.

Employee Status: Intern/Co-op (Fixed Term)

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