Start date : February-March 2026
Duration: 6 to 12 months
Location: Biotech Development Center, Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland
Role level: Internship
Recombinant therapeutic proteins such as monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are an important class of medicines serving patients most in need of novel therapies. The dominating production system for mAbs is a recombinant expression in mammalian cellular systems. The cells are then cultivated in bioreactor and the recombinant protein produced is purified. Upstream process (USP) is one of the critical steps in the production of biological medical products. As a team dedicated to USP innovation, we support the USP activities by finding ways to identify better cell culture conditions, using medium optimization and innovative technology, to deliver robust perfusion processes.
Your role :
* As an intern, you will be responsible for leading the optimization of USP perfusion platform for our newly developed host cell line.
* Firstly, you will setup a scale-down model for testing medium candidates in high throughput fashion.
* You will perform literature review for potential improvements of production media.
* You will test proposed improvements as well as perform media screening on various cell lines in perfusion microbioreactor (microfluidics-based system) to assess the productivity and quality stability.
* Moreover, you will continue the efforts to improve medium powder stability.
* You will work closely with our team of experienced researchers to design and execute experiments, analyze data, and present findings to the wider team.
Your Profile:
* Master/Engineer student in biology, cellular biology, biotechnology or related subject
* Strong interest in cell culture process, metabolism and biotechnologies
* Excellent communication and organizational skills
* A passion for learning
* Basic/Beginner Programming Level: R or Python (is a plus)
* Language: Good French and English at least B2