Sr. Bioprocess Development Manager

Department

BSD DFI - Staff

About the Department

Duchossois Family Institute (DFI) at the University of Chicago is using cutting-edge technologies and developing facilities to accelerate clinical research and introduce novel interventions that optimize microbiome-mediated host defenses, with the goal of enhancing human health. By developing new knowledge about the interactions between the human body and the commensal bacteria constituting the microbiome, the DFI is breaking new ground that will lead to therapies that increase resistance to a wide range of diseases.

Job Summary

The job manages a team of professional staff responsible for scientific research projects and research facilities. Ensures compliance of research activities with institutional, state, and federal regulatory policies, procedures, directives, and mandates. Manages the production of articles, reports, and manuscripts, and presents research findings at meetings and/ or conferences.

Responsibilities

• Improve bioreactor operation methods to enable routine and reliable use pf pH control, foaming management, and dissolved oxygen conditions to ensure an optimal anaerobic environment.

• Optimize pipelines for high-throughput customized bacterial monocultures and coculture media using statistical design, computational modeling, optimization, and liquid handling.

• Develops and optimizes a fermentation and purification bioprocess for cocultures of anaerobic microbial communities with desired taxonomic compositions.

• Optimize scalable anaerobic fermentation parameters including bacterial inoculum ratio, harvest time, pH control and feeding strategies for flask and bioreactor cultivation.

• Leads technology transfer of defined microbial culture media formulation, fermentation and purification bioprocesses of viable anaerobic bacteria for scale-up transfer to cGMP LBP manufacturing in Phase 1b/2a production.

• Supervises and trains laboratory staff by developing policies, procedures and/or methods for bioprocessing production.

• Provides expertise and training in bioprocess production to manufacturing staff in the DFI current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) facility at the University of Chicago to optimize microbial fermentation, purification, and lyophilization of live viable biotherapeutic products (LBPs) that are selected from the DFI Symbiotic Bacterial Strain Bank.

• Provides training to manufacturing staff to ensure core competency with critical technical skills to operate bioreactors, pumps, tangential flow filtrations, aseptic technique.

• Leads efforts for developing media optimization and coculture design of culture-resistant bacterial organisms.

• Manages research professionals and support staff involved with planning, monitoring, and compliance aspects of research projects. Advises other researchers on long-range plans for research projects.

• Develops goals and operating procedures, practices, and guidelines for research activity based on department strategy.

• Manages the laboratory facilities, including the purchase of new equipment and the maintenance and repair of laboratory equipment.

• Reviews research of others, and may conduct own research, in area of expertise. Edits and approves articles, reports and manuscripts. Presents research findings at meetings and/or conference. Manages the research of processes in clinical or non-clinical settings. Program and use computers to store, process, and analyze data.

• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

Education:

Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

Work Experience:

Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 7+ years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Certifications:

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Preferred Qualifications

Education:

• MS or PhD in Biology/Biotechnology/Biochemistry/Microbiology/Chemical Engineering or equivalent strongly preferred.

Experience:

• Expertise in cultivating, characterizing, and preserving anaerobic microorganisms.

• Expertise in pipeline development and optimization of fermentation and purification process of anaerobic microbial monocultures and cocultures.

• Experience using anaerobic chambers, bioreactors, scale-up fermentation, tangential flow filtration and purification of live biotherapeutic products (LBPs).

• Experience in leading technology transfer efforts to cGMP manufacturing for Phase 1b/