Senior Scientific Officer, Fermentation

• Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN)

• Join our fermentation team to collaborate with internal and external clients

• Lab based role to develop fermentation strategies for research and industry

• Access state-of-the-art facilities and a range of on-site services

• Based at our vibrant St Lucia Campus

About UQ

As part of the UQ community, you’ll have the opportunity to work alongside the brightest minds, who have joined us from all over the world.

Everyone here has a role to play. As a member of our professional staff cohort, you will be actively involved in working towards our vision of a better world. By supporting the academic endeavour across teaching, research, and the student life, you’ll have the opportunity to contribute to activities that have a lasting impact on our community.

Join a community where excellence is at the core of our culture, contributions are valued and a range of benefits and rewards are available, such as:

• 26 weeks paid parental leave or 14 weeks paid primary caregiver leave

• 17% superannuation contributions

• 17.5% annual leave loading

• Access to flexible working arrangements

• Health and wellness discounts – fitness passport access, free yearly flu vaccinations, discounted health insurance, and access to our Employee Assistance Program for staff and their immediate family

• On campus childcare options

• Cheap parking (from just $5.75 a day)

• Salary packaging options

About This Opportunity 

We are seeking a Senior Scientific Officer/Scientist - Fermentation to join our fermentation team and support the development of fermentation workflows in close collaboration with clients, collaborators, and students.

The position is primarily laboratory based and will work closely with our senior fermentation engineer to develop the fermentation strategies to better characterised microbial strains. Successful candidates will collaborate with customers of the facility which may include researchers and industry.

Key responsibilities will include: 

Core Scientific

• To set up, optimise and maintain the instrumented bioreactors (DASGIP, Multifors, Applikon) in the IDEA Bio facilities.

• To perform cultivation of microorganisms (bacteria, yeast) using an existing fermentation strategy and further refine the processes as required.

• As required, use the fermentation workflows to deliver high quality data to clients

• Train and provide technical support to students and research staff wishing to use this equipment

• Organise and ensure the bioreactors and probes/sensors are maintained

• Coordinate with the proteomics and metabolomics teams the sample preparation workflows to increase throughput.

• Provide scientific/technical advice on appropriate methods, equipment, quality assurance procedures, risk assessment and waste management

• Assist in the development of research and testing procedures and methodologies, including analysis of quality outcomes  

• Perform experiments and generate reports

• As required, carry out sample preparation and analysis on the instruments to satisfy and accomplish research outcomes

• Implement standards and controls to achieve consistently reliable outputs

• Perform standard maintenance on instruments to ensure optimal performance

General

• Assist in the day-to-day activities and operations of the centre/team/facility

• Support and maintain the unit’s business processes, booking system and client engagement

• Perform other duties as reasonably directed by the Research Facilities Manager

Safety

• Ensure a high standard of occupational health and safety standards and systems, including inductions, supervision, equipment training registers, administration of research Facilities, Inventories, reporting and investigating injuries, incidents and hazards 

• Assist with developing a proactive safety culture and implement continuous improvement 

Leadership and management

• Supports the development of more junior research scientists

• Working to promptly resolve conflict and grievances when they arise in accordance with University policy and procedures

• Contributes to research outputs, joint preparation, and authorship of reports/manuscripts

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Other duties, as reasonable directed by the supervisor

This role is subject to The University’s Code of Conduct .  

There are 2 full-time fixed term positions for up to 2 years at HEW Level 6

The full-time equivalent base salary will be in the range $88,099.39 - $94,512.08, plus a generous super allowance of up to 17%. The total FTE package will be up to $103,076.28 - $110,579.13 annually. As this role is covered by an Enterprise Agreement, you will also receive regular remuneration increases – at least once a year.

About You  

We are looking for an experienced and highly motivated fermentation scientist to apply their subject matter expertise and advanced the development of bioprocesses withing IDEA Bio. You will have:

• Completion of a relevant degree (cell biology, molecular biology, biotechnology, biochemical engineering) with subsequent experience, or an equivalent combination of relevant experience and/or education/training in the cultivation of microorganism in instrumented bioreactors.

• Demonstrated research-relevant knowledge and skills with operation instrumented bioreactors and the relevant operation software.

• Sound understanding of fermentation processes.

• Demonstrated experience in the cultivation of microorganisms (bacterial, yeast), including screening methods, media selection and standard growth kinetics characterization

• Demonstrated laboratory skills (media and buffer preparation, sample preparation, implementation of experimental protocols, use of volumetric materials, etc) 

• Excellent level communication skills

• Well-developed problem-solving skills, with an ability to forward plan, prioritise tasks to meet deadlines and work with a high level of adaptability, both independently and as part of a team

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with proven ability to produce clear, succinct documentation.

• Strong expertise in the Microsoft Office suite of programs, GraphPad Prism, and the ability to learn new programs (e.g., LabArchives, BioRender)

Desirable

• Completion of relevant postgraduate degree (masters, PhD) in chemical engineering, biochemistry, molecular biology, or related discipline

• Knowledge in fermentation control, optimisation and scale-up.

• Experience in the use of electronic lab books

In addition, the following mandatory requirements apply:

• Work Rights: You must have unrestricted work rights in Australia for the duration of this appointment. Visa sponsorship is not available for this appointment, but we may be able to assist you with associated costs for relocation. 

Questions? 

For more information about this opportunity, please contact Dr Axa Gonzalez Garcia, Senior Bioprocess Engineer / Research Fellow, [email protected]  

For application queries, please contact [email protected] stating the job reference number (below) in the subject line. 
 

All applicants must upload the following documents in order for your application to be considered:

• Cover letter addressing the ‘About You’ section  

• Resume 

Other Information 

At UQ we know that our greatest strengths come from our diverse mix of colleagues, this is reflected in our ongoing commitment to creating an environment focused on equity, diversity and inclusion .  We ensure that we are always attracting, retaining and promoting colleagues who are representative of the diversity in the broader community, whether that be gender identity , LGBTQIA+ , cultural and/or linguistic , Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples , or people with a disability . Accessibility requirements and/or adjustments can be directed to [email protected] .

If you are a current employee (including casual staff and HDR scholars) or hold an unpaid/affiliate appointment, please login to your staff Workday account and visit the internal careers board to apply for this opportunity. Please do NOT apply via the external job board.

Applications close Sunday 3 March, 2024 at 11.00pm AEST (Job Reference Number – R-35433). Please note that interviews have been tentatively scheduled for March.