We have 13 research and development projects within: • Research • Oncology • Respiratory, Inflammation and Autoimmunity • Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease • Antibody Discovery and Protein Engineering • Pathology • Biopharmaceutical Development • Cell Culture and Fermentation Sciences • Formulation Sciences • Analytical Biotechnology Science

1. The MedImmune Industrial
Placement Student
Programme 2016
ExceptionalScience
dedicated to innovation
In the world of biologics, MedImmune (an
AstraZeneca company) has established itself as a
true visionary, with one of the most robust pipelines
in the pharmaceutical industry. We are inviting
applications for 13 Industrial Placement (IP) Students
to join us for our summer 2016 intake. Whilst
contributing to genuine research and development,
you will work closely with world class scientists
using cutting edge technology.
We have 13 research and development projects within:
• Research
• Oncology
• Respiratory, Inflammation and Autoimmunity
• Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease
• Antibody Discovery and Protein Engineering
• Pathology
• Biopharmaceutical Development
• Cell Culture and Fermentation Sciences
• Formulation Sciences
• Analytical Biotechnology Science and Strategy
• Purification Process Sciences
A comprehensive guide to all 13 projects is listed in
the following pages.
To apply, please go to www.medimmune.com/
careers/ and click Job Search’, select country
as ‘UK’, select location as ‘select all’ and search
utilising the req ID number. Please submit your CV
and a covering letter (preferable in a PDF format) -
ensuring that you include answers to the following
questions in your covering letter:
• Why do you want to work at MedImmune? (in
under 1000 characters)
• Why do you want to apply for this specific
placement? (in under 1000 characters)
Application submission deadline strictly 17:30,
Friday 16 October 2015.
Interviews will take place between Monday 2
November and Thursday 12 November 2015.
12 Month placement start date is
Monday 4 July 2016.

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Biopharmaceutical Development: Analytical
Biotechnology Science & Strategy
UK, Cambridge - Req ID 10130
Industrial placement working within MedImmune
Biopharmaceutical Development in the Analytical
Biotechnology group to study protein assembly
using a variety of structural proteomics
approaches.
A number of emerging therapeutic protein formats
adopt complex oligomeric states that are important
for both efficacy and stability. These formats
include homo-oligomers assembled through
covalent and non-covalent interactions of identical
subunits as well hetero-oligomers assembled from
different protein constituents. Characterising the
assembly of such formats presents an analytical
challenge and novel analytical techniques are
required to ensure suitable methods are available
to support future protein engineering and
biopharmaceutical development.
The project will evaluate techniques capable of
measuring these protein assemblies as well as
characterising the interactions that stabilise them.
A broad range of analytical techniques will be
applied including mass spectrometry (denaturing
and native MS), cross-linking, chromatography,
hydrogen-deuterium exchange, limited proteolysis,
spectroscopic techniques (e.g. circular dichroism,
multi angle laser light scattering) and analytical
ultracentrifugation.
Research: Antibody Discovery and Protein
Engineering
UK, Cambridge - Req ID 10129
This project will be carried out between the
Biologics Profiling and Protein Sciences teams in
the Antibody Discovery and Protein Engineering
Department.The use of High Content Imaging
(HCI) has become more established in the Drug
Discovery field; nevertheless, it is not without
complication. HCI platforms work well with
immobilised cell lines yet the majority of target
relevant cell lines are suspension cells.
In this project, we aim to develop methods for HCI
of suspension cells using the ImageXpress Micro
and Opera high content imaging platforms. The
successful student can expect to gain valuable
experience in: the cloning and expression of
recombinant proteins, transient transfection of
the proteins into the mammalian cells, a variety
of molecular biology techniques, cell staining
and imaging using high-throughput microscopy
techniques and assay development.
Biopharmaceutical Development: Purification
Process Sciences
UK, Cambridge - Req ID 10128
The Purification Process Sciences team is involved
in delivery of robust, predictable purification
strategies for the supply of protein therapeutics
for the clinic. In addition to acceptable protein
purification there is a regulatory requirement that
the process developed has the ability to inactivate
and clear viral contaminants from the biologic
product. This project will be to help develop a
new strategy for scale down optimisation and
characterisation of viral clearance strategies
using state of the art micro well automation. The
successful student can expect to gain a valuable
experience in protein purification, analytical
techniques and statistical analysis.
Biopharmaceutical Development: Formulation
Sciences
UK, Cambridge - Req ID 10127
Peptide drugs are of increasing relevance in the
global pharmaceutical market. This has been
brought about in part by significant advances
in synthesis and formulation. However, there
are still challenges in developing therapeutic
peptides. One aspect of development is a thorough
understanding of physical stability and pathways of
aggregation to expedite formulation development.
The project will focus on developing an approach
to understand and predict physical stability of
peptides in liquid formulation.
The candidates can expect to obtain valuable
experience in several aspects of pre-formulation
and biophysical assay method development.
These activities could include designing suitable
formulations and developing specific assays for
synthetic peptides such as reverse phase HPLC,
micro-flow imaging, field flow fractionation,
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size exclusion and light scattering assays. The
project will offer a great opportunity to learn how
a formulation is chosen at different stages in the
development of a peptide drug.
Biopharmaceutical Development: Cell Culture
and Fermentation Sciences
UK, Cambridge - Req ID 10126
The format of biotherapeutic drugs are
becoming increasingly complex. Many of these
biotherapeutics are glycoproteins and the control
of their exact glycosylation profile, which influences
how the biotherapeutic acts in the body, is critical.
This project will develop a new high throughput
assay to monitor specific glycosylation variants
of biotherapeutics in cell culture samples, thereby
allowing enhanced data-driven decisions at early
project stages. The new assay will combine an
existing biosensor assay with a new approach,
developed in collaboration with a UK technology
company. This exciting and novel approach has
yet to be applied specifically to the assay of
glycoforms in cell culture supernatant, although a
proof of concept study of the principle components
has already been successful.
Potentially this new approach could also be
applied to other types of product quality analysis,
to extend the utility of the high throughput
biosensor approach more widely for in-process
analytics.
Research: Antibody Discovery and Protein
Engineering & Oncology
UK, Cambridge - Req ID 10125
Immunotherapies are a rapidly emerging class of
drugs which enhance patients’ anti-cancer immune
responses. There is now increasing interest in
developing immunotherapy drugs which enhance
the activation of Tlymphocytes via tumour necrosis
factor receptor superfamily (TNFRSF) receptors.
Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) which recognise
TNFRSF targets induce cellular signalling by
simultaneously binding to TNFRSF receptors on
T cells and to Fcγ-receptors (antibody receptors)
expressed by other cells within tumours. The
aim of this project will be to investigate how
different sub-types of mAbs interact with a range
of different human and mouse Fcγ-receptors,
and how this affects T cell activation via TNFRSF
receptors. The project will predominantly use in
vitro human cell-based signalling assays and the
successful applicant will also gain knowledge and
experience of cancer immunotherapy and antibody
engineering.
Research: Oncology - MDSC Assays
UK, Cambridge - Req ID 10124
MedImmune is developing cancer therapies that
harness the power of the immune system to
drive potent and long lasting anti-tumour immune
responses. However, several tumour types have
highly suppressive microenvironments driven
by immune suppressive cells which make them
resistant to immune therapies. As tumours grow
the recruitment and expansion of potent myeloid-
derived suppressive cells (MDSC) can severely limit
endogenous anti-tumour immunity and, importantly
the effectiveness of therapies. The student will
work closely with members of the oncology group
to build, develop and characterise MDSC assays
and assess the what impact our immune-targeting
agents have on the immune suppressive nature
of these important cells. The project will expose
the student to a wide range of biochemical, cell
and molecular biology techniques. The successful
student will gain valuable understanding of tumour
biology, tumour technology and the broader
tumour microenvironment.
Research: Oncology - Oncolytic Viruses
UK, Cambridge - Req ID 10123
Many cancers develop drug resistance which
ultimately lead to the failure of the therapy in the
clinic. During our early phase clinical trials, the
majority of patients will have been heavily pre-
treated with prior cancer therapies and will have
developed multi-drug resistance. Understanding
how drug resistant cancer cells are able respond
to our new anti-cancer agents is fundamental in
predicting responses and driving patient selection.
We are using oncolytic viruses (recNDV) to
selectively kill cancer cells. We have found these
viruses to be highly effective at killing cancer cells
in vitro and in vivo. However we have not tested
how the effectiveness of this type of direct tumour
killing is altered in cells with acquired resistance
to chemotherapies or to targeted therapies.
The aims of this project are to investigate i) how
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cancer cells with acquired resistance respond to
recNDV, ii) how and if tumour cell lines can develop
resistance to recNDV, iii) how to re-sensitise
resistant cancer cells to treatments through the use
of combination approaches.
The successful student will be part of the Oncolytic
Virus team where she/he will be exposed to a
wide range of established techniques in cell and
molecular biology.
Research: Antibody Discovery and Protein
Engineering
UK, Cambridge - Req ID 10122
This project will be carried out between the Protein
Sciences and High Throughput Screening groups
in Antibody Discovery and Protein Engineering.
In MedImmune, the Protein Sciences team play
a critical role in generating recombinant proteins
which serve as important reagents enabling
drug discovery projects. Despite having a well-
established method for expression of recombinant
proteins, there are some proteins that repeatedly
fail to express. Clustered regularly interspaced
short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) and CRISPR-
associated (Cas) systems are revolutionising the
field of genome editing. In this project, we would
like to take a novel approach to apply CRISPR
technology for recombinant antigen production.
We are aiming to demonstrate an activation of
a gene that is responsible of poorly expressed
secreted antigen and achieving a consistent higher
expression by utilising CRIPSR technology.
The successful student can expect to gain valuable
experience in all aspects of recombinant protein
production, including transfection of the proteins
into mammalian cells, an array of molecular
techniques such as cloning, PCR, Western blotting
and Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACs).
Research: Pathology
UK, Cambridge - Req ID 10121
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a common effect
of diabetes and leads to renal failure; inflammation
has been recognised as an important driver of
CKD. Understanding the role of inflammatory cells
and mediators in the glomerulus is fundamental for
designing new drugs that exploit this mechanism.
Laser capture microscopy will be used to dissect
out glomeruli and tubular cortex. Expression of
inflammation related genes will be investigated
using microarray and qPCR to identify markers of
interest. Protein expression of these markers will
then be investigated in via immunohistochemistry.
Tissues from animal models of CKD (untreated and
treated with anti-inflammatories) will be used.
The project includes working with a Laser
Capture Microscope, tissue processing and
immunohistochemistry. IHC protocols for
inflammatory markers are already established in
our laboratory, and personnel with experience in
LCM are available for training. Gene expression
analysis will be analysed in collaboration with
colleagues in CVMD.
Research: Respiratory, Inflammation
and Autoimmunity and Cardiovascular &
Metabolic Disease
UK, Cambridge - Req ID 10120
Fibrosis is a complex devastating process
culminating in organ failure. Irrespective of the
pathological insult, mechanisms leading to fibrosis
are shared among different organs. At MedImmune
we are looking for therapies to attenuate fibrosis
underlying idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in lung
and diabetic nephropathy in kidney. Fibroblasts
are the main cells involved in the production/
stabilisation of extracellular matrix leading to
fibrosis and loss or organ function. We present
an exciting opportunity for an IP student to work
collaboratively with the respiratory-fibrosis and
renal-fibrosis teams to further our understanding of
fibroblast biology.
The successful student will isolate human/rodent
fibroblasts to model fibrosis in vitro. Cells will
be cultured in different matrix conditions and
their pro-fibrotic profile analysed by protein and
gene-expression. Established flow cytometry
methods will be used to sort cells and understand
differences between potential subpopulations of
fibroblasts. To further confirm findings, fibroblasts
from disease models of fibrosis will also be
characterised.
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Research: Respiratory, Inflammation and
Autoimmunity
UK, Cambridge - Req ID 10119
IL-33 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that acts
through the receptor ST2. The precise role of IL-33
in respiratory diseases such as asthma and COPD
is uncertain. We have identified that human IL-33
exists in structurally different reduced and oxidised
forms (Cohen et al.,2015, Nat Commun. 2015
Sep 14;6:8327), as well as circulating in complex
with other proteins. To aid understanding of the
IL-33 axis, we need suitable tools to dissect the
complex biology.
There are no high quality and specific commercial
reagents to the different IL-33 forms. Internally
we are developing a panel of tool antibodies for
better IL-33 detection. The aim of this project will
be to characterise existing antibodies and evaluate
them for detection of IL-33 across a range of
techniques, including ELISAs, western blotting,
immunoprecipitation and IHC.
Research: Antibody Discovery and Protein
Engineering, Spirogen
UK, London - Req ID 10136
Spirogen (a division of MedImmune Limited) is
seeking an industrial placement student in the
chemical or life sciences to contribute to our
ongoing oncology drug-development programs.
This is an excellent opportunity to contribute to
a new and exciting project at the cutting edge of
biopharmaceutical drug discovery.
Spirogen specialises in the development of new
oncology treatments, antibody-drug conjugates
(ADCs), where a cancer-specific antibody
transports potent cytotoxic molecules directly
into tumours. We are looking for a motivated
IP student to work with us at the interface of
chemistry and biology to investigate new antibody-
drug conjugates, their production methodologies,
their purification and analysis. Ideal candidates
should have a working knowledge of organic
chemistry, protein purification and HPLC analysis.
The successful student will have the opportunity
to work within a cross-disciplinary, Biotech-
like environment and will gain experience in
bioconjugation, protein purification and advanced
analytical techniques.
To apply, please go to www.medimmune.com/
careers/ and click Job Search’, select country
as ‘UK’, select location as ‘select all’ and search
utilising the req ID number. Please submit your CV
and a covering letter (preferable in a PDF format) -
ensuring that you include answers to the following
questions in your covering letter:
• Why do you want to work at MedImmune? (in
under 1000 characters)
• Why do you want to apply for this specific
placement? (in under 1000 characters)
Application submission deadline strictly 17:30,
Friday 16 October 2015.
Interviews will take place between Monday 2
November and Thursday 12 November 2015.
12 Month placement start date is Monday
4 July 2016.
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