Lead the Process Development group in the preclinical development of novel medicines comprising a consortium of live bacteria delivered orally to the intestinal tract. The successful candidate will actively contribute to the Company’s development programmes in ulcerative colitis and immune-oncology. The successful candidate will be responsible for in-house fermentation process development for multiple anaerobic gut bacteria that comprise the medicine, characterising and optimising their growth and providing support for upstream and downstream method development and optimisation.

Responsibilities:

• Leading a small team to develop fermentation processes to produce live bacterial therapeutics comprising multiple bacterial strains
• Performing anaerobic fermentation of bacteria from deep well blocks to small fermenters
• Developing media screens and optimising media for growth of metabolically diverse bacteria
• Co-ordinating outsourced lyophilisation development studies and developing an in-house capability for lyophilisation development.
• Working closely with the assay development team to develop suitable assays to assess microbial cell quality
• Maintaining an awareness of latest technologies and equipment for incorporation into company labs
• Ensuring detailed records of experiments are kept within the team, suitable for supporting regulatory filings.
• Supporting process transfer to CDMOs

Candidate Specifications:

Essential requirements for this post include:

• PhD in relevant discipline eg: Microbiology or Bioprocess Engineering with focus on fermentation.
• In-depth bacteriology knowledge
• Post-doctoral experience in a bioprocess development environment utilising fermentation technology
• Experience of optimising manufacturing processes and methodologies.
• Strong leadership skills (Preferable experience of leading small teams).
• Demonstrable initiative
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

Desirable requirements for this post include:

• Experience of using Design of Experiments (DOE)
• Previous experience working with a microbiome therapeutic or probiotic development company
• Expertise in handling and culturing anaerobic bacteria
• Experience of developing processes for subsequent application in GMP manufacture
• Experience of process technology transfer to external companies
• Experience of lyophilisation process development

If interested please send most recent CV to sarah.r@jobsinscience.com