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Benefits: As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For a complete description of our benefits for this position, please visit our website.
As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state, and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills, and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.
Located at the University of Washington in Seattle, the Institute for Protein Design is a unique interdisciplinary environment where world-class researchers create molecules that solve modern challenges in medicine, technology, and sustainability. Joining our team means becoming part of one of the largest and most innovative public universities in the world. Your work here will support scientific inquiry and help ensure that laboratory breakthroughs lead to positive impact.
The Department of Biochemistry/Institute for Protein Design has an outstanding opportunity for a Research Scientist/Engineer Senior to join their team.
POSITION PURPOSE
Located at the University of Washington in Seattle, the Institute for Protein Design is a unique interdisciplinary environment where world-class researchers create molecules that solve modern challenges in medicine, technology, and sustainability.
The Biologics, Vaccines, and Process Development core supports projects related to, but not limited to, minibinders, antibodies, livestock vaccines, COVID vaccines, malaria vaccines, and platform development. When the intent is to generate products for translational research, scientists work with process development in mind to develop robust upstream and downstream processes and require both an attention to detail and documentation.
In this role, you will lead multiple project teams of scientists who proactively and scientifically engage with collaborators on construct design, protein production from E.coli, yeast, or mammalian systems, and protein characterization by a standard QC suite of assays implemented by IPD.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Research (55%)
• Utilize technical expertise to troubleshoot expression, purification, and particle assembly to move projects forward.
• Develop lab-scale unit operations for production ranging from 50mL to 30L scale from both microbial and mammalian systems.
• Develop scale-up expression, purification, and characterization unit operations for the cGMP-compliant production of biologics and vaccines.
• Evaluate alternative expression hosts and expression platforms as necessary.
• Implement enhanced methods for endotoxin removal, and tagless production or self-cleaving tag production.
People and Project Management (30%)
• Mentor/Train 13+ FTE in the BioVaxPPD core team members' lab scale standard operating procedures (SOPs) for expression, purification, and characterization; QC data preparation; and equipment operation and maintenance to move projects forward within IPD’s portfolio of programs.
• Track the needs, scopes, and timelines of projects and production requests for the BioVaxPPD team.
• Provide direct supervision to 13+ FTE which includes hiring, training, daily oversight, mentoring, scheduling and prioritization of tasks evaluation of performance, development and implementation of performance improvement plans and corrective action, and management of leave requests.
Documentation, Reporting, and Meetings (10%)
• Author protocols, reports, batch records, certificates of testing, and presentations detailing experimental work and summarizing results.
• Organize and facilitate internal project meetings to present data and discuss roadblocks and attend meetings with external collaborators.
Procurement, Inventory Management, and Equipment Maintenance (5%)
• Implement maintenance protocols on core equipment to enhance reliability and availability.
• Collaborate and communicate with lab management to facilitate instrument repairs and service contracts, and procurement, stocking, and management of lab reagents and materials.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
• Master's Degree in Biochemistry, Microbiology, or another relevant field + 8 years or more experience in related field.
Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
• Experience in microbial and mammalian production and characterization of designed proteins, with detailed understanding of their unique attributes.
• Extensive experience in troubleshooting production protocols and experience building and designing novel purification protocols and columns for AKTA FPLC systems.
• Experience working in an academic setting leading specific development aims at the group lead level, and being able to function autonomously with minimal supervision.
• Supervisory and training experience of junior FTE, with emphasis on in-person instruction.
Additionally, the candidate is expected to work with lab and facilities management to enforce best practices for lab operations and be willing and able to travel to and work at two IPD sites (15-min walking distance) depending on the task.
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS
• Project management certificate or relevant experience in an academic or laboratory wet lab environment.
• Experience developing and authoring training materials and SOPs, ideally for protein expression, purification, and biophysical characterization methods.
• Proactive in identifying and triaging complex problems leading to long-term effective solutions.
• Ability to cross-train and/or assist in the evaluation of alternative hosts and expression platforms to support the generation of biologics and vaccines.
• Desire to learn, integrate, and optimize existing workflows biologics and vaccine development, and QC pipelines.
• Enjoys interacting with other scientists in a highly collaborative and fast-paced work environment.
Application Process: The application process may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”.
Committed to attracting and retaining a diverse staff, the University of Washington will honor your experiences, perspectives and unique identity. Together, our community strives to create and maintain working and learning environments that are inclusive, equitable and welcoming.
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