FDA Internship - Impact of Soluble Versus Adhesive Presentation of Heparan Sulfate on Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Production of Extracellular Vesicles

Research Project

The Marklein laboratory is seeking a highly motivated postbac intern to join a multidisciplinary research team with the following overall goal: “Development of generalizable strategies to define and understand the role of the manufacturing microenvironment on the safety and efficacy of cellular therapies.” This internship will be specifically focused on developing a high throughput approach to screen the impact of heparin sulfate variants on mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) production of extracellular vesicles (EVs).

Learning Objectives

• Gaining hands-on experience with advanced cell culture techniques, extracellular vesicle isolation and characterization. This will include characterization of MSC-EVs from different cell-lines and produced in different manufacturing conditions (2D vs. 3D and using different surface-coated layer-by-layer assemblies)
• Gain experience in developing an image-based screening approach to identify heparan sulfate surface coatings and soluble heparin sulfate formulations (as well as potential combinations) that enhance MSC-EV production.
• Professional development through publication in high-impact journals and presentation at national conferences as well as preparation for future careers related to product research and development, quality control, regulatory science, and clinical translation

Mentor

The mentor for this opportunity is Ross Marklein (ross.marklein@fda.hhs.gov). If you have questions about the nature of the research, please contact the mentor.

Citizenship Requirements

This opportunity is available to U.S. citizens only and Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs).

Qualifications

• The qualified candidate should have received or be currently pursuing a bachelor's in one of the relevant fields (biomedical engineering).
• Preferred experience in the following:
• cell culture (i.e. cell manufacturing)
• extracellular vesicle manufacturing and characterization
• high content imaging
• biomaterials
• bioreactors
• multiomics (proteomics/metabolomics)
• immunology
• machine learning/AI
• single cell profiling

Additional Information

• I am a U.S. citizen, or I have lived in the United States for at least 36 out of the past 60 months. (36 months do not have to be consecutive.)
• I have read the FDA Ethics Requirements.