SOLUGEN
14549 MINETTA ST.
HOUSTON TX 77035
POSITION:
Fermentation Process Development Engineer/Senior Associate Scientist
ABOUT SOLUGEN:
Solugen, Inc. is commercializing an enzymatic process to co-manufacture hydrogen peroxide and organic acids from biobased feedstocks. Solugen was founded in 2016 and is a post-Series A venture-backed startup company located in Houston, Texas. Solugen is scaling up its manufacturing process on five acres of manufacturing space with a 65,000 square foot facility containing 10,000 square feet of office and lab space. Solugen currently has 50+ full time employees.
SUMMARY:
The Fermentation Process Development Scientist is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the fermentation process development lab, especially the execution of fermentation experiments. This involves assisting in experimental design, equipment and media setup, fermentor inoculation, operation, and sampling, sample analysis, clean-up, and analysis of experimental results. The engineer/scientist will troubleshoot process and equipment issues, and aid in the scale up of these processes to the pilot and industrial scales. The engineer/scientist will report initially to the Director of Process Development.
MISSION:
The mission of the Fermentation Process Development Scientist is to assist in the development and scale up of new fermentation processes.
Development: The scientist will review literature, design new experiments, execute experiments, and analyze results. Execution is a major part of this role, including media preparation, bioreactor operation, and aseptic operations (inoculations, sampling, etc.), biochemical analysis, and clean up. Maintaining a clean, orderly, well-stocked, and safe lab is part of this execution. This will require occasional night and weekends work, as experiments require.
Scale up: The scientist will develop fermentation KPIs for pilot and industrial fermentation and will aid in the scale up and tech transfer of developed processes. This will include equipment operation, training others on fermentation processes, sample collection and validation, and process troubleshooting. This may involve occasional travel.
OUTCOMES:
· Installation and successful commissioning of new laboratory fermentation equipment within 3 of on boarding
· Demonstration of a scalable fermentation process in 5 L fermentors within 6 months of on boarding
· Development of a reliable, reproducible inoculation process for 5 L fermentation with filamentous fungi within 6 months of on boarding
· Prepare media, seed cultures, and reagents to support experiments
· Development fermentation analytical techniques for nutrient depletion, cell growth, and product titer, and then execute for experimental fermentation on an ongoing basis
· Execution of experiments to support fermentation process development, such as media development, feed rates, agitation rates, temperatures, etc.
· Troubleshoot equipment and perform maintenance and cleaning as needed. Perform or organize repairs rapidly when needed
· Order new reagents as needed
· Train employees to execute laboratory tasks related to fermentation engineering and supporting activities
· Assist with “hand-off” to downstream processing, and assist in DSP PD as needed
· Maintain a clean, safe laboratory environment
COMPETENCIES:
QUALIFICATIONS:
BS in Chemical Engineering, Biochemical Engineering, Bio engineering, Biotechnology, Biology, Microbiology or similar degree with 5+ years' experience in industrial fermentation/bioreactor operation/fermentation engineering OR 10+ years' experience in industrial fermentation/bioreactor operation/fermentation engineering