Research Fellow in Automation of Vaccine Bioprocessing Manufacturing Research Hub for a Sustainable Future

Job title:

Research Fellow in Automation of Vaccine Bioprocessing Manufacturing Research Hub for a Sustainable Future

Company

University College London

Job description

About us This position is a key part of the Manufacturing Research Hub for a Sustainable Future (VaxHub Sustainable), led by UCL Biochemical Engineering and the University of Oxford with a number of academic and industrial partners. VaxHub Sustainable is funded with a £12M grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), under its Manufacturing Research Hubs for a Sustainable Future initiative. It builds on the success of VaxHub 1, which was originally formed in 2018 with a grant from the Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC) and has played a critical role in making the UK the global centre for vaccine discovery, development and manufacture. Most prominently, VaxHub 1 research underpinned the development of the ChAdOx-1 nCoV-19 vaccine, subsequently licensed to AstraZeneca, with direct benefit to over 180 countries worldwide, including the UK. The vision for VaxHub Sustainable is to deliver manufacturing innovations that enable a transformative change towards sustainable and rapidly responsive vaccine manufacture. In addition to innovative approaches to platform technologies, the Hub will develop manufacturing options that improve product quality and so immunogenicity; streamline manufacturing process development with novel responsive solutions and advanced digitalisation strategies; and will have a focus on enhancing stability and needle-free administration routes.This post is funded for 3yrs in the first instance.About the role A new Research Fellow position in automation of vaccine bioprocessing is now available. The position, based in the UCL Department of Biochemical Engineering, will develop pipelines and software routines for automated experimentation to facilitate the digitalisation of experimentation for vaccine bioprocess development. The project focuses on the development of an automated upstream-downstream process development and analytics platform as a non-code integrated technology with a specific focus on resource efficiency and resource sharing. The researcher will be based at UCL and will be one of a team of UCL-based researchers working as part of VaxHub Sustainable, as well as several academic and industrial collaborators. The UCL Department of Biochemical Engineering has excellent research facilities including a new bioprocessing suite of vaccines-dedicated laboratories and a full-scale £25m bioprocessing pilot plant. The post-holder will also benefit from modelling, digital bioprocess and biosystems engineering and metabolic engineering expertise in Doctor Duygu Dikicioglu’s group.There will be a high degree of interaction with UCL colleagues and industrial partners so excellent team-working and communication skills will be required. The post holder will be responsible for undertaking original experimental research, reporting on project progress and the preparation and submission of research papers arising from these and related studies.About you You will hold a PhD in a relevant discipline (e.g., Biochemical or Chemical Engineering) or a related subject area or in natural sciences reinforced with an emphasis on programming skills and/or interest in automation (e.g. Biotechnology, Biochemistry, Genetics), and ideally possess experience in one or more of the following areas biochemical analyses, analytical procedures, molecular biology techniques, programming in a number of languages, application of computational workflows, or process automation.We want to give people opportunity for development and this role is one where we could consider a wide range of different skills and experiences. Whilst all candidates must meet the essential criteria in order to be shortlisted, we actively encourage candidates who may not meet all of the desirable criteria to apply as we consider these to be areas the successful candidate can grow within the role.For informal enquiries, please contact Dr Duygu Dikicioglu at d.dikicioglu@ucl.ac.uk.What we offer As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer some great benefits some of which are below:

• 41 Days holiday (27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days)
• Additional 5 days’ annual leave purchase scheme
• Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE)
• Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan
• Immigration loan
• Relocation scheme for certain posts
• On-Site nursery
• On-site gym
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay
• Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service Visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/reward-and-benefits to find out more.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce. These include people from Black, Asian, and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people and LGBTQI+ people.Available documents

Expected salary

Location

North West London

Job date

Sun, 18 Aug 2024 05:53:10 GMT

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