Skip to main content

This job has expired

Research Associate - Analytical Chemist

Employer
UCB S.A
Location
Slough, Berkshire (GB)
Salary
Compettive salary + bonus +_benefits
Start date
26 Mar 2019
Closing date
25 Apr 2019

View more

Discipline
R & D , Biotechnology, Chemistry, Laboratory, Scientific
Hours
Full Time
Contract Type
Permanent
Experience Level
Graduate

Job Details

At UCB everything we do starts with a simple question: “How will this make a difference to the lives of people living with severe diseases?” We do that by connecting with patients and their families around the world living with the physical and social burdens of severe disease of the immune system and the central nervous system. Those connections offer new perspectives, drive innovation, and offer the hope of a new generation of therapies that will help to transform lives. 

Role Overview

To support the discovery and delivery of potential drug candidates by performing chromatographic purification of NCE’s and offering full analytical support to the chemistry department by using your analytical chemistry expertise. 

We are seeking an Analytical Chemist with experience in LC-MS to join the Global Analytical Sciences team supporting drug discovery research at UCB. 

The position will be based in Slough, UK. 

Working within our purification team, you would be responsible for the management of purification requests and the timely delivery of purified novel pharmaceuticals.  As part of the larger analytical team you would also be responsible for the provision of open access LC-MS, and expert QC analysis for the chemistry department, as required.  You will work in recently refurbished labs with state-of-the-art instruments and the potential to expand your knowledge across multiple techniques. 

You will have a strong interest and foundation in analytical chemistry and should understand the importance of analytical chemistry and how this has an impact on developing new medicines. You will have the ability to develop, implement and optimise methods on HPLC, HPLC-MS, uPLC-MS and SFC-MS instrumentation. Knowledge of MassLynx and Chemstation software would be a distinct advantage. 

Primary Responsibilities

  • Plan and execute your experimental work effectively.  Utilise personal knowledge and skills, experience from previous projects, advice from colleagues, and comprehensive literature searching to identify appropriate methods. Meet challenging personal performance standard according to pre-set performance metrics agreed with your manager.
  • Demonstrates flexibility in working practices. Develop professional relationships within chemistry to ensure effective communication of information and ideas. Acts as a team player & contributes to team objectives. Shows consideration for colleagues and helps others if and when required.
  • Produce and accurately record all experimental results to the agreed Company standards. Summarise and communicate the significance of your data to other members of the team to ensure these are understood, and used to determine further work plans for the team.
  • Continuously expand your knowledge of your specific discipline through appropriate reading, learning from colleagues, attendance at courses and external meetings. Seek to develop an understanding of the impact of other disciplines and how they fit in the drug discovery process.
  • Contribute to the maintenance of a safe and effective environment by setting high personal standards, and working with colleagues to achieve the Company HSE standards. Participate in communal activities that improve the laboratory conditions. 

The core activities would include;

  • Support the medicinal chemistry department with their requests, to perform purifications as and when requested to a required standard.
  • Close liaison with the analytical and purification team on the UCB site in Belgium to co-ordinate and schedule expert purifications.
  • Become expert in the use of all instrumentation in the analytical laboratory, to ensure fast and efficient turnaround of all submitted requests.
  • Be responsible for and maintain open access LC-MS instruments within the department, troubleshooting problems and working with instrument manufacturers to ensure continuous operation.
  • Provide expert analytical and QC LC-MS support as required for small molecules.
  • Develop your external network of experts, to ensure up to date knowledge of ever evolving technologies so that UCB remains competitive in the analytical field. 

Essential Experience

Minimum of a BSc (or equivalent) in analytical chemistry or a chemistry related degree.

We are seeking someone with industrial experience already familiar with the operation and maintenance of LC/MS and SFC instrumentation in an analytical and purification environment.

You should be proficient in the use of Agilent and Waters LC-MS instrumentation, and be able to troubleshoot and undertake routine maintenance as and when required.

An understanding of liquid handling robotics would also be advantageous. 

Beneficial Experience

It would be advantageous to have an understanding of other analytical techniques such as IR, NMR and UV spectroscopy. There would, however, be an opportunity to learn and expand these skills working closely with analytical and medicinal chemistry teams at UCB to solve project related analytical questions. 

We can offer you an informal and friendly working environment.  You will be exposed to a variety of projects and regular coaching and input from the teams you are working with.  You will work in recently refurbished labs with state-of-the-art instruments and the potential to expand your knowledge across multiple techniques, with access to our regular internal seminar series delivered by experts in their field.

Company

A global biopharma company, focusing on neurology and immunology.

Our business is strong. Total revenue grew to €4.9 billion in 2019. We are more than 7,600 people in all four corners of the globe, inspired by patients and driven by science.

Our vision

UCB’s ambition is to transform the lives of people living with severe diseases. We focus on neurology and immunology disorders – putting patients at the center of our world. We are Inspired by Patients. Driven by Science.

UCB is continuously working to advance science and embrace new knowledge. We are leveraging scientific advances and skills in areas such as genetics, biomarkers and human biology. Patients inspire us to bring them value through cutting-edge science, innovative drugs, and practical solutions – so that they and their carers can get on with their lives.

Our strategy

We recognise that radical changes are taking place in the eco-system of care and that we need to evolve accordingly to deliver on our vision. The key element of our evolution is to focus on the delivery of increased patient value.

There is no such thing as an “average patient”. We want to use all the tools, channels and scientific advances at our disposal to develop a better understanding of the various expressions of a disease and embed the real needs of specific patient populations in our science and innovation process.

That is why we support patient groups who provide valuable services to patient communities and understand what matters to people living with severe diseases.

We believe in partnership. Our scientists collaborate with leading researchers from academia and industry to advance science and deliver the solutions patients need. Our open approach to innovation equips us to meet today’s biggest healthcare challenges.

Company info
Website
Telephone
+32 2 559 92 64
Location
Allée de la Recherche,
60
1070
Brussels
BE

Get job alerts

Create a job alert and receive personalised job recommendations straight to your inbox.

Create alert