Alan Merritt Email & Phone Number

• Lead and delivered research and development projects to support new and existing anti-infection products.
• Lead the virology programme to ensure company objectives were met
• Supervised members of the virology team
• Generated virucidal data to support biocidal products for a range of markets
• Supported external collaborations investigating innovative new products

Warrington, England, United Kingdom

Performed COVID-19 testing for the entertainment and sports industries. Supervised junior members of staff in the delivery of qPCR data to tight timelines.

• Lead and established a new team of virologists in delivering contract research testing for anti-viral and virucidal claims for a variety of products including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, face masks, surface.
• Managed a small team in the delivery of company projects
• Worked with a wide range of viruses including coronavirus, norovirus, adenovirus, influenza, vaccinia and rhinovirus
• Produced high quality reports of data
• Troubleshooted projects, lead failure investigations and implemented corrective actions
• Worked to ISO 9001 standards

Liverpool, United Kingdom

• Involved in the technical transfer of live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) strain selection activities from California to the Liverpool site as well as leading research projects into LAIV effectiveness. Key.
• Cloning, rescuing and characterising LAIV candidates through basic virology techniques such as plaque assay and TCID50;
• Working to tight deadlines in high pressure situations to ensure the delivery of the annual vaccine formulation;
• Representing the virology group at interdisciplinary, company-wide meetings on strain selection;
• Authoring technical reports that support regulatory submissions for the annual vaccine strain change;
• Providing technical expertise for internal investigations to support vaccine production.

University Of Leeds

Thesis: Functional analysis of genetic variants in the RYR1 gene associated with malignant hyperthermia.Malignant hyperthermia (MH) is a rare pharmacogenetic disorder caused by a deregulation of calcium homeostasis in skeletal muscle when susceptible individuals are exposed to volatile anaesthetics. The primary locus responsible for MH is the sarcoplasmic.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Molecular Biology

Thesis title: Functional characterisation of genetic variants associated with malignant hyperthermia

Bachelor Of Science (B.Sc.), Genetics (Human Genetics), First Class (Hons)

Education record