Research Fellow in Bioprocessing of Cellular Immunotherapies

Job title:

Research Fellow in Bioprocessing of Cellular Immunotherapies

Company

University College London

Job description

About us We are recruiting a proactive, collaborative and highly motivated Research Fellow to join the Cell and Gene Therapy Bioprocessing Group at UCL and lead research in Bioprocessing of Cellular Immunotherapies. The successful candidate will be lead postdoctoral researcher as part of FAST CAR-T project.The aim of the FAST CAR-T project is to establish a scalable manufacturing process for allogeneic gene-modified cellular and demonstrate consistent, multi-litre scale production for cellular immunotherapies with the goal of improving the production process and increase the quantity and quality of cell manufacture.The investment in the UCL Biochemical Engineering’s cell and gene therapy research exceeds £10m and focuses on cellular immunotherapy bioprocessing, gene delivery and gene therapy and non-viral technologies. The Research Fellow will be joining the CGTB group which comprises of >10 doctoral researchers and four postdoctoral Research Fellows. This advertised role would be an additional Research Fellow to the group and there would be the opportunity for the successful candidate to manage and lead projects and activities within the wider group.The post is funded for 2.5 years.About the role The Research Fellow, under the supervision of Professor Qasim Rafiq, will lead the upstream processing and biomanufacture of allogeneic cellular immunotherapies. The primary role of the Research Fellow will be to execute and lead experimental studies investigating the scale-up and production of allogeneic gene-modified cellular immunotherapies (e.g. allo CAR-T).In addition to leading their own research plan, the role will provide significant management and industrial engagement opportunities. The Research Fellow will support the management of the CGTB Group, including support of the doctoral students and liaising with external partners.As the Research Fellow on the FAST CAR-T project you will:

• Devise and undertake appropriate experiments to achieve the goals and milestones as described in the research programme. This would include a significant element of independent work, e.g. in the planning and execution of experiments, and the write up of work for publication.
• Interact with the researchers and investigators within the Cell and Gene Therapy Bioprocess Group at UCL and the wider UCL Biochemical Engineering department to deliver the research project and programme aims.
• Write regular reports to the supervisor, compile data acquired in a form to allow rapid transformation of research results into research papers and/or patent applications.

About you To succeed in this role you will have:

• A PhD awarded (or about to be) in a relevant subject. This may include biological sciences, cell biology or immunology disciplines, biotechnology or biochemical engineering with relevance to cell culture, bioprocessing and analytics, and an interest in developing an understanding of scalable manufacture of allogeneic cellular immunotherapies.
• Experience immune cell culture and analytics for cellular immunotherapy applications. • Training and experience in working in cell process development including the use of bioreactors.
• Experience with cell characterisation assays including flow cytometry, ELISA, qPCR and other relevant assays for cellular immunotherapies.

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
• Discounted medical insurance

Visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/rewards-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; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women.You can read more about our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion here : https://www.ucl.ac.uk/equality-diversity-inclusionAvailable documents

Expected salary

Location

North West London

Job date

Fri, 20 Sep 2024 00:41:09 GMT

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