Junior Scientist Viral Vector Production

Bring more to life. 

Are you ready to accelerate your potential and make a real difference within life sciences, diagnostics and biotechnology?  

At Cytiva, one of Danaher’s 15+ operating companies, our work saves lives—and we’re all united by a shared commitment to innovate for tangible impact.   

You’ll thrive in a culture of belonging where you and your unique viewpoint matter. And by harnessing Danaher’s system of continuous improvement, you help turn ideas into impact – innovating at the speed of life. 

Working at Cytiva means being at the forefront of providing new solutions to transform human health. Our incredible customers undertake life-saving activities ranging from fundamental biological research to developing innovative vaccines, new medicines, and cell and gene therapies.  

At Cytiva you will be able to continuously improve yourself and us – working on challenges that truly matter with people that care for each other, our customers, and their patients. Take your next step to an altogether life-changing career. 

Learn about the Danaher Business System which makes everything possible. 

The Junior Scientist Viral Vector Production is responsible for designing and performing cell culture experiments to produce Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) based gene therapy vectors at competitive titers, quality and with manufacturing scalability in mind.   

This position reports to the Head of Viral Vector Production and is part of the Viral Vector Production Team located in Cologne and will be an on-site role.  At Cytiva, our vision is, to advance future therapeutics from discovery to delivery. 

What you will do: 

• Design and perform cell culture experiments to produce viral vectors according to established and novel protocols in high-throughput screenings, shake flasks and bioreactors (15 ml up to 10 L) within customer and research projects 

• Establish and further optimize existing processes, overall workflows and process documentation as part of internal research and development activities 

• Compile and evaluate experimental results and present these as part of either internal or customer meetings and on conferences or for publishing in peer-reviewed journals 

Who you are:  

• You have completed your M.Sc. or PhD degree in the disciplines of biotechnology, bioprocess engineering or related fields with multiple years of experience in an industrial and regulated environment 

• You have proven track record and fundamental knowledge of cell culture work (cultivation of mammalian cells, transient transfection, batch, fed-batch and perfusion cultures) high-throughput screenings as well as bioreactor handling at various scales (plates, shake flasks, Ambr, Stirred tank bioreactors) 

• You are familiar with typical analytical methods used in molecular biology and protein chemistry, preferably in the area of viral vectors 

• You have experience in data evaluation (e.g. MS Office Software package, Prism, R) and presentation of experimental results 

• You have a hands-on mentality and enjoy working in international and interdisciplinary teams with a constructive and creative mindset 

Travel, Motor Vehicle Record & Physical/Environment Requirements:

• Ability to travel – about 10 % travel for external trainings, customer and internal tech transfer activities as well as conference visits 

It would be a plus if you also possess previous experience in: 

• First experience or background in Adeno-associated viruses is considered as plus 

• Experience in regulated environments (GLP/GMP) is considered as a plus 

Join our winning team today. Together, we’ll accelerate the real-life impact of tomorrow’s science and technology. We partner with customers across the globe to help them solve their most complex challenges, architecting solutions that bring the power of science to life.

For more information, visit www.danaher.com.

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