(Junior/Senior) Associate Scientist DSP / Purification

About the opportunity

Join Ablynx, a Sanofi company, as Associate Scientist in the DownStream Processing (DSP) team within the Chemistry Manufacturing and Control (CMC) Pharmaceutical Development & Technology Department.

You will be part of a dynamic, international and fun team consisting of ~28 people with different levels of experience and you will have the opportunity to work alongside some of the top experts within our field using state-of-the-art equipment and workflows allowing a steep learning curve in the wonderful world of downstream processing.

About Ablynx and the DSP department

Ablynx, a Sanofi company, is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to creating new antibody-based medicines called Nanobodies® which are making a real difference to society. Ablynx currently has over 400 people working on the development of Nanobodies for the treatment of a wide range of diseases, including inflammation, immuno-oncology and rare diseases.

The DSP team is responsible for:

• CMC-grade research batch purifications to deliver Nanobody® batches for all projects running in Ablynx; 

• Development of DSP processes for Nanobody® pre-candidates during pre-clinical development; 

• Large-scale DSP activities (purification of tens to thousands of grams), including in-house production of non-GMP DS for toxicology studies; 

• DSP-related activities to support late-stage projects (e.g. PAR studies and process validation); 

• DSP platform improvement and new Technology exploration.

About growing with us

Responsibilities (Jr) Associate Scientist level: 

• Use state-of-the-art equipment (AKTA, Sartorius, TECAN) and different types of column and membrane chromatography (affinity, IEX, HIC, mixed mode) and filtration (µ-filtration and ultrafiltration TFF, depth filtration) techniques to perform generic purification in a timely manner with eye for quality; 

• Be part of the team that performs large-scale DSP campaigns to facilitate Tech Transfers to CMO (Man-in-Plant runs) and provide non-GMP DS material for Tox studies; 

• Report about the results and progress to the line and/or project supervisor, project team and project leader; 

• Prepare experimental reports (eLN), meeting summaries/presentations and drafts working protocols in English; 

• Responsible for one or more lab responsibilities to keep the different DSP platforms and labs operational at all times. 

Responsibilities Sr Associate Scientist level: 

• Be part of a team that, using a Design-of-experiment (Doe) approach and high-throughput equipment (TECAN robotics and AKTA Avant), develops a DSP process for Nanobody® Development Candidates which has a high process yield, delivers high quality Nanobody material, is robust and scalable and can be successfully transferred to a CMO of choice for GMP manufacturing of Nanobody batches for clinical studies; 

• Responsible for exploring new DSP-related technologies and improving platform workflows in an independent manner;  

• Responsible for presenting results at internal team meetings;

• Responsible for (technical) coaching of more junior colleagues in the team. 

About you 

Qualifications/ Education & work experience (Jr) Associate Scientist: 

• B. Sc., M. Sc. Biotechnology/(Bio)chemistry/Pharmacology/Industrial engineer or equivalent field; or a proven track record within biotechnology; 

• Excellent communication skills (fluent in English, written and spoken as English is the official communication language); 

• Knowledge of Word, PowerPoint and Excel. 

Competencies (Jr) Associate Scientist:

• Sense for initiative, quality and accuracy; 

• Ability and desire to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment; 

• Team player, enthusiastic and flexible. 

In addition, as a Sr Associate Scientist you should have: 

• At least 5 years of experience in laboratory work; 

• Hands-on experience in purification of biological expressed in P.pastoris and/or E.coli;

• Knowledge of DSP process development (different types of resin screening, Design-of-Experiment (DOE) approach for process development, gradient optimization, etc…); 

• Hands-on experience in using (AKTA or related) chromatography and filtration equipment;

• Familiar with digitalization concepts and applied data sciences using advanced applications (Spotfire, R, JMP);

• Proven organizational skills; 

• Good troubleshooting skills; 

• Able to coach more junior colleagues; 

• Experience in using TECAN workstation (script writing and handling) is a plus.

Please make sure your attached CV contains a paragraph describing your technical expertise. 

People applying for a (Jr) Associate Scientist level position will be offered a temporary contract (12 months), with a possibility to extend or convert into a permanent contract.

People applying for a Sr Associate Scientist level position will be offered a permanent contract. 

Inspire your Journey, what Sanofi can offer you:

• An international work environment, in which you can develop your talent and realize ideas and innovations within a competent team;

• An individual and well-structured introduction and training when you onboard;

• You can create your own career path within Sanofi. Your professional and personal development will be supported purposefully;

• As a globally successful and constantly growing company, Sanofi provides international career paths as well.

This is our Sanofi, Discover yours.

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