Researcher cell line and process development for therapeutic protein production

Job description

The Drug Discovery & Development platform at the Science for Life Laboratory (SciLifeLab DDD) is a national infrastructure for academic drug development with the task of translating academic discoveries into drug candidates for further commercial development. The business, which has existed for almost ten years, has, among other things, contributed to >10 new companies and four clinical drug candidates. The platform includes around 40 employees at six Swedish universities who all support collaborative projects with external academic project owners.

The DDD unit "Therapeutic Protein Engineering" (TPE) is attached to KTH and located at SciLifeLab DDD, Solna. The unit's main responsibility is to deliver well-characterized antibodies, antigens, and target proteins to the projects, as well as be technically responsible for the selection-based projects.

Testa Center is an open, non-GMP production-like environment/facility and test-bed for education, innovation and proof-of-concept experiments around production of biological products, e.g., monoclonal antibodies, peptides and proteins as well as gene therapy products. Testa Center is a private public partnership making the facility available for the Life Science community in large. The main objective of Testa Center is to promote growth of the Life Science sector and to bridge the gap between discovery and industrialization. Testa Center is owned and operated as a non-profit company by Cytiva in Uppsala. For more information, see www.testacenter.com

BRIDGE Sweden is a project that will create a platform and pipeline for the development of biological drugs, from early phase, i.e. lead identification, until lead optimization and process development. The objective is to make this platform available to startups, SMEs and academic research projects that have identified drug candidates with a potential for commercialization. The long-term goal of BRIDGE Sweden is to strengthen Sweden's position as a global player in Life Science, and specifically in research, development and production of biological medicines that support the investment in precision medicine.

As an employee for the BRIDGE project, you will work both at the TPE facility at KTH in Solna and at the Testa Center in Uppsala. You are responsible for developing stable cell lines for selected protein-based drug projects where the drug candidate is ready to be scaled up, and developing upstream and downstream processes at the Testa Center. You will be the driving person in the scale-up phase of the projects and need to have close contacts with the project owners and involved project members on the DDD platform in Solna and at the Testa Center. Your role will be both lab-based and coordinative.

What we offer

• A job at a leading technical university that creates knowledge and competence for a sustainable future
• Committed and ambitious colleagues and a creative, international and dynamic environment
• An extraordinary opportunity to broaden contact networks within academic and industrial drug development

Läs mer om hur det är att arbeta på KTH.

Qualifications

Requirements

• Solid experience in mammalian cell culture (suspension cells) with the aim to overexpress proteins
• Ability to work in two different workplaces and connect both organizations
• You are a collaborative, communicative, pragmatic team player with a "can do" attitude
• Ability to work well in an interdisciplinary environment with a clear focus on results and quality
• Great emphasis will be placed on personal competence with proven ability to organize, communicate and lead projects.
• You are motivated to fully engage in research that is formally owned by others.

Preferred qualifications

• PhD or equivalent in biotechnology or molecular biology and previous experience from the biotechnology/pharmaceutical industry or relevant academic research environment
• Development of stable cell lines
• Experience with growing mammalian cells in bioreactors
• Experience with expression and purification of antibodies and/or experience with scale-up of processes in the development of biological drugs
• Experience from industrial drug development and/or ability to work to ensure that research results benefit society
• Excellent writing and communication skills
• Project management and coordination

Great emphasis will be placed on personal skills.

Union Representatives

You can find contact details for trade union representatives on KTH's website.

Application

You apply for the job via KTH's recruitment system. You, as the applicant, are primarily responsible for ensuring that your application is complete when it is submitted.

The application must contain:

1. CV including relevant professional experience and knowledge.
2. Copy of diplomas and grades from your previous university studies. Translations into English or Swedish if the original documents are not issued in either of these languages.
3. Personal letter (1 page)

The application must reach KTH no later than midnight, CET/CEST (Central European Time/Central European Summer Time) on the application deadline.

About the employment

The employment is valid until further notice (permanent post) according to agreement.
The employment begins with a six-month probationary period.

Other information

Striving towards gender equality, diversity and equal conditions is both a question of quality for KTH and a given part of our values. For information about processing of personal data in the recruitment process please read here.

The position may include security-sensitive activities. To become authorized, you therefore need to pass a possible security check.

We firmly decline all contact with staffing and recruitment agencies and job ad salespersons.

Disclaimer: In case of discrepancy between the Swedish original and the English translation
of the job announcement, the Swedish version takes precedence.

About KTH

KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm has grown to become one of Europe’s leading technical and engineering universities, as well as a key centre of intellectual talent and innovation. We are Sweden’s largest technical research and learning institution and home to students, researchers and faculty from around the world. Our research and education covers a wide area including natural sciences and all branches of engineering, as well as architecture, industrial management, urban planning, history and philosophy. Read more here

1. Esmeralda Woestenenk, esmeralda.woestenenk@scilifelab.se