Project Overview

SMART CAMP (Critical Analytics for Manufacturing Personalized-Medicine) is an interdisciplinary research programme in Singapore (CREATE international research campus and innovation hub) and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). SMART CAMP addresses key technology bottlenecks in cell therapy manufacturing: (i) critical quality attributes (CQA) of safe, effective cell therapy products; and (ii) integrated process analytics to monitor and modulate those attributes.

This interdisciplinary team comprises engineers, biologists, clinicians, manufacturing, and data analytics experts from multiple MIT academic units, and multiple Singapore-based universities, research centres of excellence, and hospitals who are experienced at translational demonstrations of technologies in safety-regulated industries such as cell therapies.

SMART, MIT’s first such research unit outside of Cambridge, MA, serves as an intellectual hub, allowing faculty, researchers and graduate students from MIT to collaborate with their academic and industrial counterparts from Singapore and the region in exciting new areas of science and technology.

Responsibilities

SMART CAMP research will focus on improving the potency, safety, and scalability of manufacturing cell therapies. In particular, this position is focused upon next-generation methods to manufacture CAR-T cells for cancer treatment. This PDA/Sr PDA will contribute expertise in immune cell biology, process development, and clinical applications, to: 

• Establish new methods for rapid T cell isolation, genetic manipulation, and culturing.
• Coordinate T cell production and characterization to facilitate a wide array of projects within CAMP, including identifying novel attributes for T cell efficacy, safety, and manufacturability. 
• Interface with a diverse array of CAMP teammates and the larger Singapore cell manufacturing community, ranging from engineers to clinicians to GMP manufacturers and regulatory scientists.

Requirements

• Ph.D. in Immunology, Cell Biology, Cell Process Engineering, or a closely related field
• Experience with primary T cell isolation and culture, flow cytometry/FACS, and other means of immune cell characterization (microscopy, ELISA, functional assays, etc.)
• Experience with engineered T cells (CAR-T, TCR-T, etc) 
• Able to work well and communicate ideas effectively in a multidisciplinary team of researchers with different training backgrounds
• Good track record of publications and scientific output
• Self-motivated, independent, with superior organizational and analytical skills

Interested applicants are invited to send in their full CV/resume, cover letter and list of three references (to include reference names and contact information). We regret that only shortlisted candidates will be notified.