Principal Scientist - Molecular Biology, Cell Culture Upstream Process Development

About the role

The Bioproduct Research and Development (BR&D) organization at Lilly is dedicated to delivering innovative medicines to patients through the development and commercialization of monoclonal antibodies, novel therapeutic proteins, peptides, bioconjugates, cell therapies, gene therapies, and other genetic medicines. This position plays a crucial role in upstream process development activities, including cell line development, cell culture process definition and optimization, and process robustness studies.

Responsibilities

• Design and execute appropriate upstream development experiments for generation of bioproduct active pharmaceutical ingredient including protein intermediates for bioconjugation.
• Provide hands-on support for troubleshooting technical issues and driving innovation projects with novel ideas and technologies.
• Participate in cross-functional process development teams and effectively collaborate with other groups in BR&D, Discovery, Technical services for Manufacturing, and Manufacturing.
• Support transfer of upstream processes to pilot plant and manufacturing sites.
• Author technical reports and regulatory documents.
• Work effectively with external parties on development projects, research collaborations, and outsourcing efforts.
• Support organizational initiatives as needed to achieve short-term and long-term departmental goals.

Requirements

• BS/MS in Microbiology, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, Biology, Chemical Engineer, or related field.
• BS with 6+ years of relevant industrial experience or MS with 3+ years of relevant industrial experience.
• Experience with designing experiments, generating data, interpreting results, and documenting the work, independently.
• Data science and/or AI/ML experience.
• Knowledge of cell biology, cell culture, molecular biology with an emphasis on recombinant protein expression.
• Hands-on experience with cell line generation, cell culture bioreactor operation skills.
• General knowledge and understanding of issues associated with scaling of upstream processes, and use of statistics for data analysis.
• Capable of solving problems with minimal supervision.
• Work productively in an interdisciplinary team environment.

Qualifications

• Ability to work well in a team environment incorporating a variety of functional relationships and desire to be a point of accountability.
• Effective oral and written communication skills, self-management, task planning and organization.

Skills and Preferences

• Experience with designing experiments, generating data, interpreting results, and documenting the work, independently.
• Data science and/or AI/ML experience.
• Knowledge of cell biology, cell culture, molecular biology with an emphasis on recombinant protein expression.
• Hands-on experience with cell line generation, cell culture bioreactor operation skills.
• General knowledge and understanding of issues associated with scaling of upstream processes, and use of statistics for data analysis.
• Capable of solving problems with minimal supervision.
• Work productively in an interdisciplinary team environment.