Programme Manager
3Rs in vaccine batch release and quality control testing
NC3Rs, London
Fixed-term, 3 years initially
£39,216 - £45,843 (plus London allowances)
The NC3Rs has a strong track record in successfully embedding the 3Rs in the policy, practice and regulations of organisations across the bioscience sector, nationally and internationally. We achieve this through our role as an honest broker, providing an impartial environment for data and knowledge to be shared across companies and sectors as a means for identifying new 3Rs opportunities within current company practice and regulatory requirements.
We are collaborating with the World Health Organization (WHO) to extend these activities to the batch release and quality control testing of vaccines and other biologicals. It has been estimated that more than 10 million animals a year are used worldwide in vaccine development and manufacture and that 80% of these animals are used for routine quality control and batch release tests of licensed products. WHO guidelines and recommendations for the development and manufacture of biologicals carry significant influence and are adopted by a majority of global regulatory authorities, but it is not clear how much animal testing is recommended within them. Opportunities to embed the latest technologies into the development pipeline of biologics are being missed and animal tests that are expensive and often poorly predictive continue to be used.
This three-year project, jointly funded by the NC3Rs and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will:
Review existing WHO biologics and vaccines guidelines for requirements of animal testing in product control and release testing;
Evaluate the barriers to acceptance and adoption of 3Rs practices among biologics manufacturers, national control laboratories and WHO member states;
Develop a set of recommendations for the inclusion of 3Rs methods within existing WHO guidelines for human vaccines and biologics.
You will need:
• A PhD in a biological science
• Knowledge and experience of vaccines/biologics research and development (preferably post-licensure) with significant post-doctoral experience, or industry equivalent
• Proven experience in organising and running large workshops and symposia
• Proven experience in reviewing scientific publications and manuscripts
Choosing to come to work at the NC3Rs (part of UKRI) means that you will have access to a whole host of benefits from a defined benefit pension scheme and excellent holiday entitlement to access to employee shopping/travel discounts and salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme. Further information can be found at
www.nc3rs.org.ukFor full details of this post and for details on how to apply, visit
https://mrc.tal.net/vx/lang-en-GB/appcentre-1/candidate/postings/1454 quoting reference NC3Rs 1334.
Closing date: 14 August 2020
Interviews: 2 September 2020