We are looking for a highly motivated graduate with a strong interest in biopharmaceutical formulations for a 4-year full-time BBSRC iCASE studentship with the University of Sheffield, in partnership with AstraZeneca. The studentship will be based at the University of Sheffield with Dr Barbara Ciani (Department of Chemistry) and Dr Tuck Seng Wong (Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering), with a minimum placement of 3 months at AstraZeneca (Cambridge) to provide exposure to both academic and industrial environments.
Co-formulation of biological therapeutic molecules (biologics) is an emerging strategy, offering the synergistic benefits of combination, compliance, concordance, convenience, carriage and cure-all. Despite these benefits, co-formulations have product development issues to be overcome for bringing these new combinatorial biological drugs to the market. In particular, a major obstacle is provided by limitations with current bioanalytical methodologies for identifying and monitoring non-native states, adducts and aggregates, when attempting to co-formulate two or more biologics.
In this project, the student will develop an analytical workflow to systematically characterise the solution conformational state, stability and product degradation, for precise co-formulations of biologics (protein and peptide), in collaboration with the industrial partner. The data collected from these studies will be used to understand protein and peptide properties that will enable or impede coformulation drug development. Furthermore, the study outcome will be used to put together advanced models for prediction of coformulation behaviour of future patient centric biologics drug combinations.
Further information:
For informal enquiries, please contact Dr B Ciani or Dr. TS Wong ([Email Address Removed]; [Email Address Removed] ).
The BBSRC WR DTP and the University of Sheffield are committed to recruiting future scientists regardless of age, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation or career pathway to date. We understand that commitment and excellence can be shown in many ways and we have built our recruitment process to reflect this. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, particularly those underrepresented in science, who have curiosity, creativity and a drive to learn new skills. Read a full EDI statement.
Click to apply (application to Chemistry department)
Programme: PhD in Mechanistic Biology (4 years)
Start Date: 1st October 2022
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