Project coordinator Gene Editing in Cellular Therapies in the DARE-NL infrastructure

We offer a position for a Project coordinator Gene Editing in Cellular Therapies to coordinate the realization of the future technologies work-package of DARE-NL. DARE-NL, the Dutch platform for cancer-specific ATMP Research to ensure harmonized development, clinical testing and sustained patient access, will be a sustainable infrastructure for the translation of cell and gene therapy comprised of hubs of (A) knowledge, (B) biologics & technologies and (C) implementation and patient outreach. DARE-NL comprises all Dutch cell therapy research institutes and is designed to centrally tackle existing bottlenecks in ATMP development for the treatment of cancer. Hereby, DARE-NL aims to transform the cellular therapy landscape in the Netherlands and enable rapid bench-to-bedside translation, clinical implementation and sustained availability of novel concepts.

As Project coordinator Gene Editing in Cellular Therapies, you will mainly lead and organize work-package 5 of the DARE-NL infrastructure project. This involves the identification, development and implementation of new technologies for the development and GMP-compliant production of ATMPs. The objectives are to identify new technologies and setup a knowledge exchange platform within DARE-NL for GMP manufacturing of non-viral biologics and CRISPR/Cas reagents. From there, joint nation-wide manufacturing roadmaps will be developed for key new technologies. In addition, you will be involved in organizing harmonization of the inventory and risk assessments of materials used in ATMP production procedures.

You will be responsible for coordination of this work-package and work closely with the scientific and translational teams from the different Dutch institutes working on new non-viral engineering technologies. Furthermore, you will be involved in the development on novel ATMP technologies, validation design, documentation of the validation (plan, protocol and report), (partly) execution of the experiments, interpretation of data, the identification of appropriate follow up strategies and reporting of these activities. For this DARE-NL project, we are looking for an ambitious project coordinator with expertise and knowledge in cancer immunotherapy and genetic engineering of (immune) cells.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Coordinating and executing work-package ATMP New Technologies DARE-NL project.
• Mapping the landscape of new and future technologies for cellular therapy production.
• Setup knowledge exchange platform (exchange meetings, surveys, best practices, hurdles and inventory in the DARE-NL information system).
• Setup joint roadmaps and business plans for development, GMP-compliant manufacturing and implementation of key new technologies.
• Enumerate and list materials approved to be used in ATMP manufacturing in DARE-NL participating centres.
• Deliver common specifications and templates for risk assessment procedures ATMP raw materials, substances and disposables.
• Design and validate GMP-compliant non-viral gene and CRISPR/Cas engineering protocols.
• Works in a team with non-clinical and clinical PhD students, technicians, scientist and pharmacist.
• Writes scientific publications and presents findings at scientific meetings.