Internship in bioprocess engineering & bioproduct separation

Max-Planck-Institut
 
Field of research Biomedical research, Laboratory techniques, Basic research, Other fields
Internship description The group Bioprocess Engineering at the “Max-Planck-Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems” offers the opportunity to conduct an internship within the topic:

Purification of Influenza Virus via Chromatography and Ultrafiltration (Downstreaming)

Background:
The importance of (flu-) vaccines has been steadily increasing due to the latest pandemics. While the cell-culture production of vaccines achieved vast progresses, these processes and the steadily increasing purity demands for pharmaceutical products creates new challenges for the down streaming.
In the context of a PhD project dealing with the purification of influenza virus for flu-vaccine production, the student will test/ optimize different chromatography matrices for purification of influenza virus by means of it`ns surface proteins and will evaluate further purification options. The project comprises a broad range of bioproduct downstreaming-steps (virus-harvest, virus inactivation, crossflow filtration, chromatographic separation) as well as analytics (e.g. protein-, DNA-, biological assays, DLS).

Content:
- Establishment and optimization of suitable separation conditions for a selection of chromatographic materials
- Evaluation and development of further purification process steps
- Design of a complete downstreaming scheme based on the combination of these new purification steps as well as the already existing steps

We offer:
- Interesting, topical fields of research
- Numerous already established purification methods and assays
- Excellent equipment & facilities
- Direct supervision

Start:
- flexible

Duration:
- Min. 4 months (depending on experience)

The department of bioprocess engineering- profile:
Our department focuses on the following research fields:
- Mammalian Cell culture in a variety of bioreactors (multi-reactor systems (0.5 L & 1.0 L), bioreactors (1.0 & 5.0 L); Wave®)
- Virus propagation for vaccine production (influenza, MVA)
- Bacterial fermentation of mixed cultures/biofilms
- Downstream processes of viruses and recombinant proteins
- Mathematical modeling of bioprocesses

For more information about the project as well as the department, please visit the homepage:
http://www.mpi-magdeburg.mpg.de/research/projects/bpe/DSP/DSP%20Influenza
Qualifications/skills Requirements:
- student
- Bachelor or Master degree
- Interest in topics of bioprocess engineering/ downstream processing & analytics
- Good ability to work in a team
- Personal initiative and the skills for self-organization as well as for independent work
- Good English skills
- Experiences in the area of chromatography and/or ultrafiltration are advantageous
Type of internship Full time
Application deadline (date of receipt)
How to apply Please send your application as a pdf-file.
Your application have to include the following parts:
- Curriculum vitae (incl. picture)
- Recommendation letters if available
- Marks

In case your application meets our requirements and interests, you will be contacted.
Company name Max-Planck-Institut
Address Sandtorstrasse 1
Zipcode/City 39106 Magdeburg
Country Germany
Website http://www.mpi-magdeburg.mpg.de/research/projects/bpe/DSP/DSP%20Influenza
Contact person Thomas Weigel
Contact phone +49-391-6754680
Fax
Contact email weigel@mpi-magdeburg.mpg.de
Date published Thursday, 10 May 2012
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