Project Overview
SMART CAMP (Critical Analytics for Manufacturing Personalized-Medicine) is a interdisciplinary research programme in Singapore (CREATE international research campus and innovation hub) and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). SMART CAMP addresses key technology bottlenecks in cell therapy manufacturing: (i) critical quality attributes of safe, effective cell therapy products; and (ii) integrated process analytics to monitor and modulate those attributes. While cell therapies are poised to transform healthcare for both the industry and the patient, there remain many outstanding scientific and technical challenges to significant global impact that this R&D programme addresses. This high-impact focus includes measurement and feedback control of processing parameters (process analytic technologies, or PAT) that contribute to cell viability and function during cell proliferation, and the measurement at intermediate and final steps of the cell product properties correlated with positive therapeutic outcomes (critical quality attributes, or CQA).
This interdisciplinary team comprises engineers, biologists, clinicians, manufacturing, and data analytics experts from multiple MIT academic units, and multiple Singapore-based universities, research centres of excellence, and hospitals who are experienced at translational demonstrations of technologies in safety-regulated industries such as cell therapies.
CAMP’s unique, enabling and cross-cutting capabilities include cell and clinical biology, microfluidics, real-time optics and spectroscopies, 3D-printed devices, process analytics, data analytics, and bioinformatics. This programme will demonstrate these approaches required of cell-based personalized medicine through three translational testbeds (three Flagship Projects), ultimately facilitating access for more patients to life-saving, approved cell therapies for currently intractable health challenges. These flagship projects will address allogeneic and autologous cell therapy products, including but not limited to cell sources including adult stem/progenitor cells and immune cells for treatment of specific cancers, tissue degeneration, and autoimmune diseases.
For information on SMART CAMP: https://camp.smart.mit.edu
Responsibilities
SMART CAMP research focuses on multiple immune cell types and targeted indications, including CAR-T cells for cancer therapeutics. Our experts in immunology at the basic and translational levels work on the development of both the cells’ critical quality attributes (CQA) and culture systems’ process analytic technologies (PAT). This Research Engineer / Senior Research Engineer will assist our researchers in laboratory organization, as well as in research and process development, including experiments related to:
- Immune cell culture and CAR-T cell manufacturing
- Immune cell isolation, activation, transduction, and expansion
- Immune cell characterization and profiling
- Clinical sample processing
- Lentivirus production
- Plasmid preparation
Requirements
- Bachelor of Science / Life Sciences / Bio-Engineering / Chem-Engineering Degree or Diploma.
- Research experience with aseptic cell culture is a must.
- Experience with cellular profiling assays, e.g. flow cytometry staining and analyses, gene and protein expression, cytotoxicity assays.
- Experience with molecular biology assays, e.g. molecular cloning and plasmid preparation.
- Experiece with bioreactors is an asset.
- Good organizational skills and time management.
- Good work ethic and intergrity, and ability to work well in a team.
- Able to communicate effectively in and present data to a multidisciplinary team of researchers with different training backgrounds.
To apply, please visit our website at: http://smart.mit.edu/careers/career-opportunities.
Interested applicants are invited to send in their full CV/resume, cover letter and list of three references (to include reference names and contact information). We regret that only shortlisted candidates will be notified.
