Chinook Therapeutics

Company:

Chinook Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing precision medicines for patients with kidney diseases. We apply our proprietary research platform to discover and develop therapies with novel mechanisms of action in key kidney disease pathways. Our development focus is on rare, serious disorders with clear unmet medical needs and well-defined clinical development opportunities. Our lead program, atrasentan, is a potent and selective, small molecule inhibitor of the endothelin A receptor that is planned to move into a phase 3 registrational trial for IgA nephropathy and a phase 2 basket trial for glomerular diseases, in 2021. We are advancing BION-1301, an anti-APRIL monoclonal antibody, in an ongoing phase 1b trial for IgA nephropathy, and CHK-336, an oral small molecule LDHA inhibitor for primary hyperoxaluria, towards trial initiation in 2021. Our pipeline also includes several additional preclinical programs at the validation and lead optimization stages, and we continue to actively evaluate business development opportunities around early and late-stage clinical assets in kidney disease. 

Chinook completed the third quarter of 2020 with over $290 million in operating capital and trades on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol, “KDNY.”  The company has locations in Vancouver, BC, Seattle, WA and Berkeley, CA.

Position:

Chinook Therapeutics is seeking an energetic and collaborative Computational Biologist to join the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology team. Our laboratories are based in Vancouver, Canada but the successful candidate could be located in the United States or Canada. This individual will support the development, implementation and application of computational tools and methods to provide actionable biological insights and contribute to a strong scientific understanding of drug targets and biological pathways within the context of precision medicines for kidney disease. Candidates will work with a multidisciplinary drug discovery team of biologists, medicinal chemists, DMPK scientists, and in vivo pharmacologists.

Responsibilities:

• Support internal and external efforts to provide actionable biological insights and build scientific understanding of specific drug targets and biological pathways within the context of kidney diseases through the development, implementation and application of tools and methods to analyze ‘omics data types and integrate with clinical phenotypes
• Develop, implement and apply computational tools and methods to store, process, analyze, visualize and integrate in-house and public genetics, RNAseq, NGS, metabolomics, proteomics and other ‘omics data types to address key drug discovery questions on biological and disease mechanisms, biological rationale, target safety, patient stratification, and biomarker identification

Education, Experience and Skills:

• Advanced degree in computational biology/bioinformatics or a related degree and a minimum of 5-8 years of experience applying computational methods to support drug discovery/development, preferably in industry
• Skilled in large scale ‘omic analysis, with an emphasis on analyzing dynamic datasets to derive biological insights
• Extensive experience in bio-computational programming, scripting, querying or statistical analysis languages such as R, Python, Perl, SQL, as well as Linux OS for high performance computing
• Extensive knowledge and hands-on experience using bioinformatics packages such as Galaxy, Bioconductor, Ingenuity Pathways, SciPy, etc.
• Experience implementing and maintaining NGS pipelines using open source and/or commercial software
• Demonstrated experience in design, execution and interpretation of in vivo and/or in vitro biological experiments generating large scale molecular datasets, especially RNAseq and other NGS data types
• Ability to work with cross-disciplinary scientists and assimilate scientific concepts to propose, develop and execute computational strategies to address key questions
• Working knowledge of core concepts in statistical sciences
• Excellent communication skills with ability to clearly and concisely summarize computational concepts and findings to cross-disciplinary scientists
• A strong team player with a passion for science and drug discovery
• Positive attitude and high personal and ethical standards

Chinook is an Equal Opportunity Employer and we prohibit discrimination or harassment of any kind.  We are committed to fostering an environment where ALL people are welcome and supported.  We respect and value different experiences and viewpoints.  We act respectfully toward one another and embrace diversity of people and ideas. Having a diverse workforce made up of team members who bring a wide variety of skills, abilities, experiences, and perspectives is essential to our success. Creativity and innovation flourish in an environment of openness, inclusion, and mutual respect.