Research Associate, Process Development Upstream

Responsibilities

• Develop and optimize scalable cell culture processes and contribute to transferring the process to Avid Manufacturing.
• Maintain production equipment and research and implement new methods and technologies to enhance process operations.
• Contribute to mammalian cell culture process development and optimization, including but not limited to recombinant protein production, cell adaptation to suspension or serum-free conditions, media/feed screening comparing growth and productivity in various media, growing and maintaining cells in shake flasks, wave and stirred tank bioreactors.
• Perform seed train development, production bioreactor inoculation, maintenance, sampling, and feeding, and cell culture harvest/clarification.
• Work with many different kinds of mammalian cell lines (CHO-GS, CHO-DG44, CHO-M, CHO-S, NSO, HEK, etc) utilizing aseptic techniques, and apply a good understanding of the effect of general metabolic pathways (nutrient usage, expression system, etc.), physical (morphology, pH, osmolality, etc.) as well as mechanical (agitation speeds, oxygen and pH control, etc.) parameters on cell growth and recombinant protein production.
• Prepare various cell culture media and feed formulations from scratch.
• Operate, troubleshoot, and maintain cell culture equipment such as bioreactors and analyzers.
• Scale up and tech transfer cell culture and harvest processes to the Manufacturing department.
• Analyze growth, production, and nutrient usage data, create data spreadsheets and graphs in Excel or JMP, document data and findings for traceability and regulatory requirements, write technical and summary reports, generate slide decks, and communicate findings and participate in scientific discussions within the group and with clients.

Qualifications

• B.S. degree in a Biological Science
• Minimum of 1-2 years of relevant industry experience with demonstrated working knowledge of scientific principles.