Job Descriptions
Job Description:
The Research Fellow will lead the technical development of an exciting and novel therapeutic for the treatment of macular oedema with the aim to create commercially attractive IP that can be licenced from the university. This disease of the eye is prevalent in people living with diabetes or hypertension and can causes a dramatic decrease in quality of life and isolation. Our goal is to develop a breakthrough treatment option to restore quality of life and independence that is commercially sustainable and deliver this to the hands of the doctors. This will involve close cooperation with the commercial lead, iterative formulation development, idea generation, problem solving, test protocol development and testing, IP generation, pre-clinical and clinical planning activities.
The successful candidate will carry out research in the Duffy Lab, based in the Discipline of Anatomy, School of Medicine.
Past experience in all duties is not mandatory but an enthusiastic mindset is required. The candidate will be supported in their professional development, be able to avail of a range of career level focussed training opportunities, have the potential to publish research findings in leading journals and protect intellectual property.
Duties:
- Defining and rationalising must-have and nice-to-have product requirements
- Clinical and commercial validation of product requirements
- Iterative development of formulation compositions and manufacturing methods
- Development of testing protocols for standardised testing of formulations
- Benchtop and in vitro testing of formulations as per testing protocols, including analysis and clear communication of results for both scientific and non-scientific audiences.
- Idea generation and problem solving to improve product design and generate IP
- Pre-clinical and clinical plan development
- Plan and carry out scale-up and CMC activities
- Grant writing and investment pitch preparation
- Additional activities as required to meet project deliverables
Contribute to publications or IP protection of finding
Qualifications/Skills required:
Essential Requirements:
- Minimum level 8 and 6 years relevant previous experience in suitable discipline (pharmacy / biochemistry / biomedical engineering / chemistry)
- Experience in formulation development and characterisation
- Demonstrable experience with in vitro testing and analysis
- Experience in the planning and analysis of preclinical studies
- Demonstrable problem-solving abilities with respect to pharmaceutical formulations
- Demonstrable ability to work in a team, collaborate across disciplines and build effective relationships
- Demonstrable organisation ability including the capacity to meet deadlines
- High levels of initiative, project management, self-management, achievement-orientation, and motivation are encouraged
- Excellent written and oral communication skills including demonstrated ability in grant or scientific writing and oral presentations
Desirable Requirements:
- Level 9 or PhD preferred
- Demonstrable experience with hydrogel production
- Experience in the manufacture of but not limited to microparticles, nanoparticles and hydrogels
- Experience in testing of advanced pharmaceutical formulations
- Experience of formulation characterisation including performance of release studies, biocompatibility and efficacy studies
- Experience culturing cell lines in both 2D and 3D systems
- Advanced microscopy experience
- Experience in investment pitch-deck preparation
- Demonstrated ability to acquire funding support
- Knowledge of anatomy of the eye and current clinical practices for the treatment of retinal diseases
- Experience in working on an international team
- Experience in the development of SOPs and transfer of protocols to other partners
- Experience in project reporting and presentation
- Experience in CMC activities (chemistry, manufacturing, control)
- Awareness of path-to-market for pharmaceutical formulations including regulatory requirements
