Job Summary:
This position will be responsible for clinical product development including drug substance, drug product and formulation development, and the development of manufacturing processes and analytical methods toward the establishment of Chemistry, Manufacturing & Controls (CMC). Product development for clinical studies includes protein-based therapeutic vaccines, protein-peptide complexes, and small molecules. The individual will participate in process development studies aimed at improving manufacturing process yield and product quality using analytical tools including protein chemistry-based, immunochemistry-based assays, HPLC and chromatographic methods to evaluate raw materials, process intermediates, drug substance and drug product. Responsibilities of this individual also include development of purification processes which may involve processing of microbial fermentation harvest, cell culture harvest or human and animal tissue, using column chromatography, membrane diafiltration and analytical tools including SDS-PAGE, Western blotting, ELISA, FRET and microtiter plate-based protein quantitation. The individual will design and perform the studies independently, document experimental methods and results in well-maintained laboratory notebooks and technical reports, participate in interaction with R&D, Immunology, QC and Manufacturing and presentation of data in group settings.
Hierarchal Position: The person in this role reports directly to the Associate Director of Process & Analytical Technology.
Spectrum of Tasks
- Design and perform experiments independently for product/ process/ analytical development;
- Develop drug substance and drug product formulation for clinical studies;
- Develop, improve and validate as needed manufacturing processes (mainly purification and formulation processes) to enhance manufacturing efficiency and product quality.
- Execute developmental scale production work, which may involve the processing of tissue/cell harvest, purification and chromatography.
- Implement processes and assays in PAT, Manufacturing and QC groups under cGMP.
- Provide training to QC and Manufacturing personnel on assays and processes as needed.
- Develop assays using tools including HPLC, LC-MS, SDS-PAGE, Western blotting , FRET, ELISA to evaluate raw materials, process intermediates, drug substances and drug products.
- Quality – Responsible to perform job function in accordance with the Agenus Quality Policy and Quality Manual as appropriate.
- Specific skills relevant to the job
- Experience in qualitative and quantitative analysis of protein and peptide in complex matrix; analytical development in a GMP environment;
- Experience in tissue/ cell lysate/ cell harvest processing and protein purification, knowledge of process development and GMP compliance.
- Experience in protein formulation development.
Education and Experience
- Requires a PhD with a minimum of 3 years of product/ process/ analytical development in a cGMP setting, or BS/MS degree in a scientific discipline plus 5 to 10 years of drug/vaccine development experience.