https://www.xbxbio.com/

Manage a Downstream Manufacturing team of dedicated scientists, and technicians, to purify proteins and viral gene therapy vectors for Phase I, II, and III clinical trials. Prepare and modify numerous documents (PBRs. PDPRs, SOPs, Raw Material Specifications, URSs, Investigation Reports, Deviation Reports, CAPA, etc...). Interact with clients through email, phone, and face-to-face. Manage teams across departments (Quality Assurance, Quality Control, Fill finish, Upstream Manufacturing) to fulfill the needs of the client. Manage budgets and make purchasing decisions. Responsible for maintaining a schedule of personnel, material, and production room resources to ensure timely and successful completion of project goals.

Managed downstream cGMP purification operations including the development, evaluation, and scale up of column chromatography (affinity, size exclusion, ion exchange, hydrophobic interaction, etc…) filtration, centrifugation and other separation methods for proteins, viral vectors, and large and small molecules. Optimized methods for purifying recombinant proteins, viral vectors, and small and large molecules using working knowledge of filtration, column, and scale up principles and technologies. Prepared and modified numerous documents (PBRs. PDPRs, SOPs, Raw Materials Specifications, etc…), and ensured timely and successful completion of project goals.

PROJECT MANAGER | TEAM LEADER | ENTREPRENEUREstablished a business plan for an innovative biotechnology company (CysGlykon) in Croatia- Conducted feasibility study, established client relationships, and obtained letters of intent- Developed scientific, laboratory, financial, and human resource plans- Negotiated contracts and prices for equipment and suppliesPresented business plan to venture capitalists, investment bankers, business development professionals, and government agencies; and negotiated contracts and financing optionsLearned about GMP and GLPLearned about protein characterization and antibody sequencing by LC-MS

WRITER | CONTENT DEVELOPER | PUBLIC SPEAKERScience is changing at an exponential rate, with over 5,000 scientific journal articles being published everyday. The pace of progress is so fast that no one can keep up. ScienceCinch's mission is to: explain science in jargon free prose, present data and information in digestible bites, and give the public an accurate, unbiased, and fun view of science.- Informs the public through blogs, white papers, and journal articles- Engages audiences while presenting data in entertaining and understandable style- Helps businesses write business plans and grants

TEAM LEADER | PROJECT MANAGERLead collaborative-international teams, and maintained close interactions, to determine the structure of emerging virus glycoproteins - Independently designed, implemented, and lead virology research- Engineered recombinant monoclonal antibodies, antibody fragments, camel VHH antibodies, and viral glycoproteins, characterized using (DLS, SEC-MALLS, and CD)- Used protein engineering and X-ray crystallographic model visualization techniques to make a peptide molecule that inhibited RVFV infection in cell culture- Established insect expression system, purified proteins using affinity, gel filtration, IEX chromatography- Worked with Alpaca VHH phage library constructed against CCHFV glycoprotein, screened and cloned from library for binders to CCHFV- Crystallized proteins and antibodies, alone, or in complexes, for diffraction experiments- Performed diffraction experiments at international synchrotron radiation facilities- Analyzed diffraction data using CCP4 and Phenix crystallographic packages to solve the structure of antibodies and viral glycoproteins- Developed, validated, and executed biochemical and cellular assays to test immunotheraputics, and peptide/small protein inhibitors of RVFVTEACHING | TRAININGMaintained vital laboratory equipment (ÄKTA purifier), and trained 15 scientists on proper useOrganized and lectured a course for 10 international graduate students on X-ray crystallography Supervised graduate and undergraduate student projectsSupervised and taught – cloning/molecular biology, cell culture, and crystallography to two Czech medical studentsTaught concepts of crystallography to three French High School students COMMUNICATOR | WRITEREffectively communicated results at international scientific conferences; edited manuscripts and correspondence for non-native English speakersAuthor/editor of paper on 15N-labeled proteins expressed in S2 cells for NMR experiments

RESEARCHER | SCIENTISTDeveloped a system to produce milligram amounts of protein from six different viruses from two different genera of virusesLEADER | COLLABORATORCoordinated collaboration to find antibody fragment binders of viral glycoproteinsFacilitated multinational collaboration to sequence and clone antibodies for crystallization experiments

TEAM LEADER | PROJECT MANAGERLead and coordinated a research team to discover a receptor, DC-SIGNR (CD209L), for SARS-CoV and HCoV 229E, and characterized the biochemical interactionDeveloped biochemical assays to characterize the interaction of Coronaviruses with type II alveolar cellsWRITER | EDITOREdited collaborators sections of a funded NIH Program Project GrantWrote and/or edited six published manuscriptsLABORATORY BIOSAFETY OFFICERTrained staff scientists and graduate students in safe laboratory practice and maintained accurate training records - Established and maintained standard operating procedures for biosafety level 3 laboratory - Responsible for safe operations of SARS suite - Trained staff two scientists and five graduate students, maintained accurate training recordsSUPERVISOR | MANAGERSupervised/Managed four professional research assistants - Planned, designed, and scheduled experiments - Trained safe laboratory technique in BSL2 and BSL3 laboratories - Trained molecular biology, cloning, immunochemical techniques, and virologyRole in hiring decisions of staff scientistsResponsible for major equipment purchases and negotiated $10,000 in discount

Dissertation title: Biochemistry and Evolution of Filovirus EntryPROJECT LEADERDiscovered how modifications of the Ebola virus glycoprotein affect the ability of the virus to enter cells using biochemical techniques, wrote and/or edited two published manuscripts on these dataUsed protein chemistry/engineering to modify the Ebola glycoproteinConstructed retroviral gene therapy vectorsEstablished stable cell lines that expressed pseudotyped retrovirusesUsed FACS and immunochemical techniques to characterize infection of cells in culture with these virusesWRITER | EDITORWrote and/or edited two published manuscriptsINVENTORWon two US patents on a pseudotyping system developed to characterize the Ebola virus glycoproteinSUPERVISOR | MANAGERSupervised experiments of graduate, rotation and High School studentsTRAINER | TEACHERGraduate teaching assistant for three courses- Responsible for maintaining records, grading, and lecturing to more than 200 undergraduate students and 10 graduate students

RESEARCHERDiscovered a gene responsible for insecticide resistance using classical genetic techniquesWRITER | EDITORParticipated in writing and editing paper published in Science