The Antibody Engineering Group at Orion Biologics R&D UK Centre

The Antibody Engineering group is a unit within the newly established Orion Biologics R&D UK Centre whose main responsibility is to discover and develop biologics for clinical use from early research into clinical development. Biologics R&D Centre represents a central piece in the long-term vision of expansion into biologics modalities by Orion Pharma. The Centre’s mission is to accelerate the company's biologics research and development efforts.

The Biologics R&D Centre will complement Orion's existing R&D efforts in Finland, where the company was founded in 1917. Currently, Orion possesses all the functional capabilities necessary for small molecule discovery and development in Finland. Orion’s expansion into Cambridge, UK marks a pivotal step in building future innovative biologics treatments, including multi-specific antibodies, Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADC), and Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cells (CAR-T).

Independently of geography, Orion Pharma is committed to upholding key Nordic values. The company has created a culture of straightforward and honest interactions, and its management emphasizes the balance of professional and home life, leading to happier and motivated employees. This motivation is key to meeting the company’s bold mission of becoming a powerhouse of biologics discovery and development.

About the Role

We are seeking a highly motivated Research Associate to support and execute phage display-based antibody discovery campaigns. The successful candidate will contribute to the identification and characterisation of novel therapeutic biologics, working closely with scientists across antibody discovery. This role offers the opportunity to help establish and expand a state-of-the-art phage display platform within Orion's growing Biologics R&D organisation.

Key Responsibilities

• Support and ultimately execute phage display selection campaigns against a variety of therapeutic targets.
• Assist in antibody screening for hit identification using a variety of binding and functional assays.
• Track, catalogue and appropriately store phage outputs, clones and campaign samples throughout the discovery process.
• Prepare samples for next-generation sequencing and analyse selection outputs to monitor enrichment, diversity and support lead identification. Support antibody optimisation activities, including affinity maturation and reformatting of selected clones.
• Contribute to the construction of phage-antibody libraries for antibody discovery and engineering projects.
• Maintain high-quality experimental records, analyse results and communicate findings clearly.
• Help maintain complementary laboratory infrastructure, reagents, equipment and inventories required for phage display and molecular biology workflows.
• Understand and comply with Orion Pharma safety, quality and regulatory policies and relevant government regulations.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience with phage display technologies for antibody discovery and/or protein engineering purposes.
• Practical experience in molecular biology techniques such as PCR, cloning, DNA assembly, plasmid preparation and sequence verification.
• Experience handling large sample sets, with strong organisational skills and attention to data quality.
• Familiarity with NGS library preparation and analysis of sequence datasets will be a bonus, along with antibody screening and characterisation.
• Good written and verbal communication skills.
• A proactive, practical and scientifically curious approach to experimental work.
• An ability to contribute within a team environment and create positive collaborations with cross-functional Research & Development teams.