Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Research associate at Roche Innovation Center Philadelphia
Brought on to create, develop, and integrate Tangential Flow Filtration (TFF) into nucleic acid purification operations in lab-scale setting. Established a role as a flexible, competent scientist that could be trained on a variety of techniques for production, purification, and analysis of nucleic acid structures. Used this training in collaboration with both research and technical development partners to fill gaps in experimental completion to accelerate product development. Volunteered for positions within the team's lab responsibilities assignments and offered assistance to teammates with their own responsibilities when other work took precedent. Utilized a variety of instruments including multiple AKTA systems (Pure, Avant, Explorer) and Agilent Systems (HPLC) for purification as well as tested various membranes for use in buffer exchange and concentrating steps using TFF. Experience with cross-linking nucleic acids and purifying product with PEG and denaturing sucrose-formamide gradients for analysis. Fluorescently labeled nucleic acids and proteins using Mirus and Ulysis labeling dyes and hybridized various proteins and nucleic acid structures together to create complex three dimensional molecules. Responsible for large quantities of research test article generation and analysis while maintaining regular role as a downstream process development scientist with separate data generation and handling requirements. Often took lead roles for projects offered to the group and consistently upheld a high standard of quality work, documentation, and communication.
Brought on to lead high throughput purification of AAV-containing lysate to produce purified material for submission to analytical assays in support of technical and process development goals. Purification as a Service, or PaaS, offered various purification methods utilizing the ProteinMaker system from Protein BioSolutions or the TECAN Fluent 1080 system. The main purification service provided was Affinity Chromatography using various Repligen pre-packed columns on the ProteinMaker and Phytip purification on the TECAN. Responsibilities included all data handling on electronic lab notebooks, all sample management and submission for assay, and information transfer between multiple departments and interdisciplinary teams. Purified more than 1000 individual samples over a 12 month period and generated individual asset IDs for more than 10,000 sample assay submissions while maintaining thorough documentation and sample handling practices. Presented PaaS team data to company executives over Zoom and contributed to the creation of a poster presentation at ASGCT 2024.