Associate Scientist I, Polysaccharide Process Development
Full Time
San Carlos, CA 94070
Posted
Job description
Company Profile:
Vaxcyte, Inc. (Nasdaq: PCVX) is a vaccine innovation company engineering high-fidelity vaccines to protect humankind from the consequences of bacterial diseases. The Company is developing broad-spectrum conjugate and novel protein vaccines to prevent or treat bacterial infectious diseases. Vaxcyte’s lead candidate, VAX-24, is a 24-valent, broad-spectrum, carrier-sparing pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) being developed for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). The Company is re-engineering the way highly complex immunizations are made through modern synthetic techniques, including advanced chemistry and our exclusively licensed XpressCFTM cell-free protein synthesis platform. Unlike conventional cell-based approaches, the Company’s system for producing difficult-to-make proteins and antigens is intended to accelerate its ability to efficiently create and deliver high-fidelity vaccines with enhanced immunological benefits. Vaxcyte’s pipeline also includes VAX-31, a 31-valent PCV candidate; VAX-A1, a prophylactic vaccine candidate designed to prevent Group A Strep infections; VAX-PG, a therapeutic vaccine candidate designed to slow or stop the progression of periodontal disease; and VAX-GI, a vaccine program designed to prevent Shigella. The Company is driven to eradicate or treat invasive bacterial infections, which have serious and costly health consequences when left unchecked. For more information, visit www.vaxcyte.com.
Vaxcyte, headquartered in San Carlos, CA, went public in June 2020 and currently has a team of approximately 180 employees and anticipates continued, significant growth. Following equity offerings in October 2022 and April 2023, which generated over $1.1 billion in net proceeds, the Company’s balance sheet is further strengthened to advance its pipeline of novel vaccines, including VAX-24. These financings followed positive data readouts from Vaxcyte’s Phase 1/2 proof-of-concept study evaluating VAX-24 in adults aged 18-64 and Phase 2 study in adults 65 and older. The Company believes these results support a best-in-class potential for VAX-24, which was designed to replace the current standard-of-care in adults and children. VAX-24 is being investigated for the prevention of IPD, which can be most serious for infants, young children, older adults and those with immune deficiencies or certain chronic health conditions. Given the global impact of pneumococcal disease remains significant, the public health community continues to advocate for vaccines that can offer broader protection to prevent IPD. Vaxcyte’s PCV franchise, consisting of VAX-24 and VAX-31, is designed specifically to address this need and has the potential to deliver the broadest protection for this very serious disease. We believe that our PCVs could receive regulatory approval based on successful completion of clinical studies utilizing well-defined surrogate immune endpoints, consistent with how other PCVs have obtained regulatory approval in the past, rather than requiring clinical field efficacy studies.
Summary:
Vaxcyte is looking for an energetic and talented Associate Scientist/Engineer to contribute to the Polysaccharide development and manufacturing group within the CMC team. Vaxcyte is developing a multi-valent polysaccharide-based conjugate vaccine, based on a novel carrier protein produced using the Xpress CF platform. Polysaccharides are a critical component in conjugate vaccines.
The successful candidate will have practical laboratory experience developing processes related to biotechnology, biopharmaceuticals, or vaccine industries. The candidate will be eager to utilize and learn new laboratory skills as this person will be responsible for collaboration on experimental design and execution of experiments to further the polysaccharide development and manufacturing programs. This position will require >70% time in the lab initially and this person will be able to collaborate on experimental design and execute experiments utilizing lab protocols. The successful candidate will interface closely with the CMC team, write detailed technical reports, present experimental results internally, and potentially interface with external CMO partners.
Essential Functions:
- Operate and maintain lab scale equipment and instrumentation for BSL2 microbial fermentation (250 mL-50 L) and primary recovery.
- Monitor and evaluate fermentation performance through fermentation controls and analytics including metabolite analysis and polysaccharide titer quantification through anthrone assays.
- Perform scaling calculations between large scale manufacturing and small-scale process development operations.
- Review manufacturing documents including executed batch records, deviation reports, and change requests.
- Assist in compiling process development and manufacturing data for statistical analysis for scale down modeling and process characterization purposes.
- Assist in designing and executing process development runs, record data in electronic laboratory notebooks, and aid in writing technical summary reports.
- Present data to the team to provide updates on small scale development activities and contribute to technical discussions.
Requirements:
- B.S./M.S. in bioengineering, chemical engineering, biochemistry or other related disciplines.
- 1-3+ years of experience.
- Prior experience with bioreactor fermentations, including glass and single use vessels, as well as experience with depth filtration, centrifugation, and TFF for primary recovery.
- Experience with analytical methods such as plate-based assays, UV-spectrophotometry, and metabolite analyzers.
- Experience writing technical documents including lab operation protocols and data summary reports.
- Proficiency in computer programs including Microsoft Excel, Word, and Powerpoint.
- Familiarity with DOE principles and experience with DoE software (JMP) is a plus.
- Some experience with GXP requirements including deviation investigations, CAPAs, and change controls.
- Understanding of engineering principles for scaling upstream unit operations.
- All Vaxcyte employees require vaccination against COVID-19.
Reports to: MSAT Engineer II
Location: San Carlos, CA
Compensation:
The compensation package will be competitive and includes comprehensive benefits and an equity component.
Salary Range: $101,000 - $113,000
Send resumes to:
careers@vaxcyte.com
Vaxcyte, Inc.
825 Industrial Road, Suite 300
San Carlos, CA 94070
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