Post Doctoral Research Associate in Pharmaceutics - KTP Associate

Location: Eye-Docs Limited, 50 Lode Lane, Solihull, West Midlands, B91 2AW 

Contract Type: Fixed Term (30 months)

This Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) project aims to utilise surgical theatre capacity as cleanroom facilities to develop novel pharmaceutical formulations for the treatment of Dry Eye Disease.

Eye-Docs (Midland Eye) is a private Ophthalmic Services clinic, providing patients with a comprehensive, specialist service for the diagnosis and treatment of all eye conditions.

The KTP will embed key pharmaceutical expertise in the selection, compatibility testing and novel carrier methods for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) and excipients (medicines components that are not the actual drug). This will leave Midland Eye with a drug formulation ‘toolkit’ for formulation development, enabling them to bring novel eyecare treatments to market.

Candidate Profile: PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences or a closely related discipline. They should have a strong understanding of pharmaceutical formulations and process development.

Skills/ experience required include:

Essential

• Experience in characterisation of excipient, preparing nano-formulations of particulate system, analytical method development, and process design and optimisation.
• Demonstrable experience of analytical method development, in vitro assays for assessing formulation performance and formulation of nanoparticulate systems.
• Strong IT skills including use of Microsoft (Word, PowerPoint and Excel) to produce reports, presentations and manage data.
• Able to work as part of a multi-disciplinary collaborative team with the capacity to take the lead role in order to deliver research objectives and milestones on time.
• Good verbal and written communication skills with the ability to liaise with all stakeholders, including potential customers and the steering group.

Desirable

• Prior experience working within the pharmaceutical industry or in research to demonstrate an understanding of the challenges and benefits of collaborative projects.
• An understanding of medicines regulation.

Additional Benefits and support:

• Up to £5,000 for personal and professional development for the duration of the project
• Annual leave (25 days p/a)
• Professional support and mentorship
• Mental Health and wellbeing support: https://www.aston.ac.uk/staff-public/hr/Benefits-and-Rewards/health-wellbeing 

The Company: Eye-Docs (Midland Eye) is a private Ophthalmic Services clinic in Solihull, providing patients with a comprehensive, specialist service for the diagnosis and treatment of all eye conditions. https://midlandeye.com/ 

Aston University: You will work in a project team with Professor Afzal Mohammed, and Dr Daniel Kirby from Aston University and the Senior Management Team at Eye-Docs with the support of the IUK’s Knowledge Transfer Adviser.  

Location: You will be based at Eye-Docs Limited, 50 Lode Lane, Solihull, West Midlands, B91 2AW but will have access to facilities at Aston University in central Birmingham. Some travel to key clients may also be required.

For informal enquiries about this role please contact Professor Afzal Mohammed: a.u.r.mohammed@aston.ac.uk or Dr Daniel Kirby: d.j.kirby@aston.ac.uk

For further information and to apply on-line, please click the above “Apply” button.

Closing Date: 23.59 hours GMT on Wednesday 19 February 2025

Interview Date: Monday 10 March 2025

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