Research Assistant in Biocrystallisation

The is seeking two Research Assistants to work on (1) the effect of impurities on the crystallisation of proteins and (2) control of peptides nucleation and crystallisation. The posts are funded by the UKRI and associated with a Marie Sklodowska Curie Action Doctoral Network on Crystallisation Towards Efficient and Sustainable Biomanufacturing (ProCrystal). As part of this post, you will enroll on a PhD programme under the supervision of Professor Jerry Heng and be part of a collaborative research programme conducted by 15 PhD students and 11 academic institutions and multiple industrial partners across Europe.

Downstream processing of biopharmaceuticals is dominated by chromatographic steps which suffer from low throughput, poor scalability and elevated energy consumption, as well as high equipment and materials costs. To this is added the low stability and high degradability of liquid formulations. ProCrystal’s goal is to develop crystallisation as a simple, sustainable, cost-efficient and scalable alternative to current DSP techniques and liquid formulations, once it allows to separate, purify and stabilise in a single step. ProCrystal’s programme will span both fundamental understanding of the underlying phenomena, from the molecular scale to process scale, and advanced experimental and modelling techniques specific to crystallisation technology.

The expected start date is around January 2025, although there is some flexibility on this. The candidate is also expected to go on a short placement to our project collaborators elsewhere in Europe.

Recruited researchers can be of any nationality and must comply with the following mobility rule: they must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, in the UK more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before their recruitment date. Researchers must not have spent more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before their recruitment in the same appointing organisation.

The successful candidate will be expected to register for a PhD at Imperial College and meet the requirements for a PhD

The following essential knowledge, skills & experience are sought:

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