Scientist II, Fermentation Process Development – Recombinant Peptides

AbbVie’s Biologics CMC organization develops processes to support the advancement and manufacture of biologic medicines. AbbVie is seeking a motivated fermentation scientist to contribute to the development of microbial processes for recombinant peptide production. The successful candidate will perform hands-on fermentation studies and help develop, optimize, and scale upstream processes for therapeutic peptides. This role will collaborate with colleagues in strain development, downstream processing, analytical development, and other functions to generate reliable data and support project goals.

Responsibilities

• Independently design, execute, and interpret critical fermentation experiments to answer scientific questions and advance project goals.
• Develop and optimize microbial cultivation and fermentation processes, including work with hosts such as Escherichia coli and yeast.
• Evaluate the effects of media composition, inoculum conditions, feed strategies, induction conditions, temperature, pH, agitation, aeration, and dissolved oxygen on growth and product expression.
• Operate, maintain, and optimize bench-scale bioreactors and support microscale, parallel, and scale-down fermentation studies.
• Apply broad technical proficiency to troubleshoot experiments, instrumentation, and routine process issues; adapt or innovate protocols and techniques as project needs evolve.
• Collaborate with strain-development colleagues to screen and characterize microbial clones and expression systems.
• Analyze fermentation data—including growth, substrate use, process parameters, product titer, and yield—and place findings in the relevant scientific context.
• Troubleshoot experiments and instrumentation, adapting or developing methods to meet changing project needs.
• Collaborate with strain-development, downstream-processing, and analytical teams to assess expression, peptide recovery, and product quality.
• Consult relevant scientific literature and use it to inform experimental design, interpret findings, and solve technical problems.
• Set and meet experimental timelines, communicate plans and results, contribute to technical documentation, and improve laboratory methods and operations.
• Follow applicable corporate standards for conduct, safety, material handling, and GxP compliance, as relevant to the work.