Over one million people in the world today are fighting blood cancer. While a traditional
allogeneic stem cell transplant has been the best hope for many patients, the transplant itself can prove fatal or lead to serious conditions, such as graft versus host disease.
Orca Bio's investigational, high-precision cell therapies are designed to replace a patient's compromised blood and immune system with a healthy one, while dramatically lowering the risk of developing life-threatening or debilitating transplant-related side-effects. The first application of Orca Bio’s platform is in blood cancer where the unmet need is most acute; with a robust pipeline of promising cell therapies, we plan to extend into autoimmune diseases and genetic blood disorders as well.
Why this role is important
Having in-house cGMP manufacturing capacity is a critical part of Orca's road-map. The Manufacturing Research Associate helps optimize processes and conducts cGMP manufacturing activities to produce our cell therapies in support of clinical studies, which in turn allow us to secure FDA approval, scale, and serve more patients.
Because manufacturing for clinical studies requires significant coordination with hospital sites, donors, and patients, we need dedicated team members who understand that timing is everything - we literally hold patient cells in our hands. If you're willing and eager to roll-up your sleeves and work on a flexible schedule (including occasional graveyard shifts to process cells) in a BSL-2 environment, you're meant to be on our team!
What you'll do
- Faithfully execute scientific protocols
- Develop cell therapy for blood diseases
- Optimize cell assays
- Use cell separation technologies
- Perform flow cytometry and analyze data
- Work with new technology
- Review and support continuous improvements of records and SOPs
- Analyze results, maintain detailed records of experiments and outcomes
- Participate in group research discussions
- Prepare, maintain, trouble-shoot, and operate instruments
- Participate in group research discussions
What prior experience you have
- Master’s or bachelor’s degree in biology or related field
- 1-2 years of experience in process sciences, discovery research or manufacturing
- Experience with aseptic techniques
- Breadth of knowledge of cell therapy and clinical manufacturing, cell processing technologies, cell characterization methods, validation and quality systems
What other experiences would help
- A background in immunology, oncology or cell therapy
- Flow cytometry experience, including sorting and analyzing cells
- Experience working with human cells
- GMP experience and/or eagerness to learn the manufacturing process under GMP
You will excel if you are...
- Highly detail-oriented, and pays special attention to quality and quality control
- A multi-tasker who can handle and prioritize multiple responsibilities simultaneously
- Curious to learn and eager to step-up immediately in a fast-paced, collaborative start-up environment
- Able to work both independently and as part of a team, and seamlessly transition between the two
- Strong problem-solving skills with the desire to improve upon established processes
- Eager to onboard, train, and mentor new team members
Who we are
We are scientists, engineers and business operators working with urgency to develop new therapies for patients faced with no or extremely limited options today.
We are driven by a passion for science and compassion for patients. We act with urgency to ensure our treatments are one day accessible to all patients who need them.
We strive to do things right. Excellence in our work means the potential to unlock a better quality of life for our patients, and with that comes tremendous responsibility.
We innovate daily on a path that hasn’t been paved. This means we lean heavily on our entrepreneurial spirit and are comfortable taking calculated risks to achieve progress toward our mission. It means we aren’t afraid to ask “why not”, and encourage lively discourse around rethinking the status quo.
We work hard to preserve our start-up culture rooted in camaraderie and leadership by example - by everyone, regardless of title.
We’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and have seen how our differences - when celebrated and woven together - create stronger and more lasting solutions that better serve our team, our partners, and most importantly, our patients and the providers who treat them.
We invite you to join us and bring your unique perspective and experiences to our team.
