Project description – Biopharmaceutical data science

The PhD position is part of a larger European consortium with roughly 65 partners from across whole Europe. Within this consortium, the PhD position is part of the work package ocused on developing novel drug adherence devices by means of micropump technology. This ork package was created to advance drug adherence devices which can reduce medical costs and improve patient comfort. However, an overall understanding of the effects of the new pumping technology on the biopharmaceutical proteins is still lacking. Therefore, the project will investigate the effects of mechanical stress on biopharmaceutical proteins with regard to their stability and/or functionality after delivery by means of the micropump technology.
As biopharmaceutical products have unique responses to mechanical stress, several protein analytical techniques will be selected to evaluate biopharmaceutical specific effects. Moreover, high-throughput screening approaches will be employed for this project to generate a wide experimental design space. The use of several high-throughput instruments inherently leads to vast and multivariate datasets. This output requires advanced data science approaches to find biologically valuable information, which is needed to understand the observed phenomena. Within the available position you will work closely together with an experimental-oriented PhD, who is also part of the consortium, where you will focus on the development of data analytical and data utilization strategies. Together, the overall goal is to create a deeper understanding of mechanical stress effects on biopharmaceutical proteins induced by novel micropump technology.
We are looking for a PhD student who can find themselves in the following points:
•    A flexible and independent person.
•    Motivated to contribute to the field of biopharmaceuticals.
•    Experienced in programming and the development of data science approaches.
•    Wanting to be a part of an active and diverse group of scientists  

The Biomolecular Separation Engineering group

The Biomolecular Separation Engineering group of prof. Jürgen Hubbuch focuses on all aspects of modern downstream processing: protein formulation and stability, additive manufacturing and 3D bioprinting, as well as high-throughput process development and digitalization, such as multivariate data analysis and process analytical technology. The laboratories are equipped with state-of-the-art analytics and liquid handling robotics, which create a rich experimental playing field. The wide range of research conducted in this group keeps you up to date with current developments in the biopharmaceutical downstream processing field and is stimulating for interdisciplinary work.