This applied research program is designed to change the way we approach drug discovery. As a fellow, you will learn to apply your skills to make a difference for patients and reimagine medicine at Novartis. Drug hunting is a team sport, and you will gain experience in drug discovery as part of a multi-disciplinary team in Biomedical Research. Seize this chance to be at the forefront of the future of drug discovery!

As part of the Innovation Fellowship track of the Novartis Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, you will join our vibrant, dedicated postdoctoral community for events, including the monthly postdoc seminars and other scheduled events for postdocs. Fellows are surrounded by a supportive, collaborative community of postdocs and scientists, who would contribute to the acceleration of your scientific growth, along with building your professional skillset, e.g. you will have the opportunity to do a Postdoc Practicum in another laboratory or in a business function of Novartis. This applied research program has a duration of 3 years in length.

There is a high interest in identifying disease-specific organ and tissue delivery methods for therapies like siRNA, gene, and radioligand, as well as various antibody formats across many diseases.

Finding cell-specific targets or disease-specific tissues using transcriptomics or proteomics is challenging and often results in many potential targets needing individual validation.

This postdoctoral research aims to use phenotypic phage display to identify antibodies and their corresponding targets in tissue ex-vivo or in-vivo, revealing novel binding mechanisms and epitopes not found in classical in vitro models.

You will have the opportunity to work in a highly collaborative environment with diverse scientific and technological expertise through Biomedical Research.

Through the Novartis Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, you will build your competency as a drug hunter, and as a scientific leader in the field. You will join a professional network that will support your growth as a research scientist, and you will have the opportunity to tackle disease and make an impact, by reimagining medicine together.

Preferred start date: October 1st 2025

Location: Campus Basel

Key responsibilities

As an Innovation Postdoctoral Fellow, you will:

• Work independently as well as with interdisciplinary teams
• Conceive, conduct, and analyze antibody phage display selections using complex biological systems like organs, tissue sections and/or organoids
• Characterize selected antibodies and identify their targets.
• Troubleshoot issues, analyze, and present data at internal meetings and boards as well as at external conferences
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams on target discovery and drug development projects

Role requirements:

• PhD in Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Biochemistry, antibody discovery or a related field
• Note that PhD students in the last year of their thesis work are eligible to apply. Applicants are only eligible to apply up to 2 years from the date of receiving their PhD (i.e. PhD degrees must have been awarded May 2023 or later).
• Strongly preferred: Hands-on experience in organoids handling, animal/human tissue sectioning and imaging, lysate preparation. Experience in setting up and maintaining isolated organ perfusion systems is a plus.
• Demonstrated proficiency in a broad range of techniques across molecular biology, protein biochemistry, cellular assays & analysis such as cloning, high throughput sequencing and data analysis, flow cytometry, confocal microscopy etc.
• Experience in phage display as well as previous experience in working in BSL2 environments are advantageous.
• Strong publication record or other scientific achievements (i.e. awards, patents, grants)
• Excellent analytical, communication, presentation and organizational skills
• Passion for fundamental exploratory research and boundless curiosity

How to apply

Please submit your CV and cover letter by August 3rd 2025 for consideration. Please make sure to discuss in the cover letter how this training program will help you fulfill your career goals. 

Accessibility and accommodation:

Novartis is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodation to all individuals. If, because of a medical condition or disability, you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the recruitment process, or in order to receive more detailed information about the essential functions of a position, please send an e-mail to [email protected], and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. Please include the job requisition number in your message.