Your mission
Looking to learn about the fast-growing gene therapy field?
Did you know that gene therapy focuses on treating diseases by altering genes in target organs? It could be a lifesaving one-off treatment!
At MeiraGTx we are focused on developing gene therapy treatments for patients living with serious diseases of the eye, salivary gland and central nervous system. We have a diverse product pipeline, core viral vector engineering and development expertise, in-house GMP manufacturing, and closely connected teams working together, all of which will allow you to see and experience different sides to the R&D process and the company itself whilst learning from the experts in the field.
Job Description
Project description Process Development at MeiraGTx combines a solid understanding of chemical and biological processes with state of the art experimental and computational tools to rapidly develop robust and scalable manufacturing processes. Process Development interns work within a tight-knit team but are expected to take personal responsibility for producing results and supporting their own ideas.
The successful candidate will focus on the development of upstream unit operations for the manufacturing of novel AAV gene therapies, taking novel products from initial process development through to technology transfer to manufacturing.
During the placement you will:- Collaborate in the development of AAV manufacturing operations, using various scale down models such as cell culture plates, flasks and stirred tank bioreactors.
- Participate in the optimization of a gene screening workflow to support cell line development, including but not limited to target selection, cloning, testing of gene modulation constructs, and gene expression analysis via RT-qPCR.
- Gain an understanding of GMP and QbD considerations in a large-scale manufacturing environment.
- Use statistical and modelling software and tools, such as DoE, statistical tests (ANOVA, t-test), and programming tools (Excel VBA).
- Gain an understanding of in-process assays such as qPCR, ELISA, plate-based spectrometric assays.
- Have access to cutting edge technology including high throughput automated tools.
- Drive innovation and challenge conventional assumptions such as the use of new process technologies.
- Collaborate and communicate with multidisciplinary teams: downstream, analytical, technology transfer and manufacturing, to plan your experiments and share the data.
Benefits- A yearly salary of £25,000.
- Extensive training on upstream unit operations for AAV manufacturing, including but not limited to seed train, cell expansion in bioreactors using fed-batch and perfusion, transfection, harvest and primary recovery.
- Free coding training courses with Datacamp.
- Exposure to other departments activities like Downstream manufacturing and Analytical methods Development, upon interest.
Location: London, N1
About us
MeiraGTx is a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing potentially curative treatments for patients living with serious diseases. We currently have six programs in clinical development including three ocular indications, a salivary gland condition, and a Parkinson’s disease program. Our initial focus on diseases of the eye, salivary gland and central nervous system is based on the significant unmet medical need coupled with the high potential gene therapy has to provide meaningful clinical benefit in these areas. With headquarters in New York and London, our global footprint provides us the opportunity to partner with leading institutions around the world, allowing us to deepen our understanding of diseases and their progression.
Our team was built with deep expertise in gene therapy development, allowing us to efficiently advance our programs from preclinical to clinical development. Our core capabilities in viral vector design and optimization and gene therapy manufacturing give us a differentiated approach to developing gene therapies. Additionally, we are developing proprietary technology to potentially enable innovative gene therapy treatments whose expression can be turned on and off with an easily administered small molecule. We believe temporal control of gene therapy products has the potential to transform the gene therapy landscape.
Our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, completed in early 2018, was designed to meet global regulatory requirements, including the current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) required by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the UK and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The 29,000-square foot facility has the flexibility and capacity to produce sufficient product for all our clinical trials and will scale to commercial capacity.
