PDRA in Scaling of Vaccine Bioprocessing Manufacturing

About us

This position is a key part of the Manufacturing Research Hub for a Sustainable Future (Vax-Hub Sustainable), led by UCL Biochemical Engineering and the University of Oxford with academic and industrial partners. Vax-Hub Sustainable is funded with a £12M EPSRC grant, part of UKRI. It builds on the success of the DHSC-funded Vax-Hub 1, which played a critical role in making the UK the global centre for vaccine discovery, development and manufacture. Its research underpinned the development of the ChAdOx-1 nCoV-19 vaccine, subsequently licensed to AstraZeneca, with benefit to over 180 countries. Vax-Hub Sustainable’s vision is to deliver manufacturing innovations that enable a transformative change towards sustainable and rapidly responsive vaccine manufacture.

About the role

The postholder will develop small scale and validated process sequences to facilitate the digitalisation of experimentation for vaccine bioproc ess development. The project focuses on the development of an upstream-downstream process for one or more of the vaccine technologies available within the hub (mRNA, VLPs, viral vectored and glycoconjugates). There will be a high degree of interaction with UCL colleagues and industrial partners so excellent team-working and communication skills will be required. The post holder will be responsible for undertaking original experimental research, reporting on project progress and the preparation and submission of research papers arising from these and related studies.

About you

You hold a PhD in a relevant discipline (e.g. Bio/Chemical Engineering) or a related area or in natural sciences reinforced with an emphasis on scaling bioprocesses and/or interest in vaccines, and ideally possess experience in biochemical analyses, analytical procedures, molecular biology techniques, up and downstream process for vaccine production, scaling up/down approaches and miniaturizati on. We want to give people opportunity for development and this role is one where we could consider a wide range of different skills and experiences . Whilst all candidates must meet the essential criteria in order to be shortlisted, we actively encourage candidates who may not meet all of the desirable criteria to apply as we consider these to be areas the successful candidate can grow within the role. For informal enquiries, please contact Professor Martina Micheletti at

What we offer

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents we also offer some great benefits some of which are below: • 41 Days holiday (including 27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days) • Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE) • Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan • On-Site nursery • On-site gym • Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay • Employee assistance programme: Staf f Support Service • Discounted medical insurance

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be under represented in UCL’s workforce. These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women. You can read more about our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/equality-diversity-inclusion/