Research Fellow

Project Title: Formulation Innovation to Enhance Thermal Stability and Deployability of a Lassa Fever Vaccine

Vaccine deployment is severely constrained by the need for logistics including cold chain distribution. Infectious diseases remain a major threat to health and health security in the EU and globally and thus a proactive approach to the development of vaccines in preparedness for future infectious disease outbreaks is needed. One such threat is Lassa mammarenavirus, which remains a major epidemic threat in West Africa and a priority pathogen for global health security. Our partners have successfully developed a live recombinant virus vector Lassa vaccine to clinical testing. However, this vaccine currently requires ultra-cold chain storage with limited refrigerator stability. This creates challenges for broad deployment and storage, particularly for rapid use in an outbreak response and for routine preventive use in endemic settings in resource-limited regions.

In this Horizon-EU funded project, the consortium will advance this Lassa vaccine candidate toward a next-generation formulation optimized for epidemic deployment. Specifically, the partners will develop and eval-uate a thermostable formulation manufactured using scalable, production technologies and advance it through required preclinical testing and first in human clinical evaluation. Scientists in the Vaccine Immun-isation Technology and Access (VITAL) group in NIBRT will collaborate with the vaccine manufacturing part-ner to identify, develop and verify thermostabilising formulations and processes for this live virus vector vac-cine. We will focus on developing a liquid and a lyophilised form vaccines.

Position Available

Research Fellow

Location

Dublin

Department

Research

Hiring Manager Contract Type

24 Month SPC

Application Date

October 2026

Interview Dates

November 2026

Start Date: January 2027

Salary & Benefits

Competitive salary and excellent suite of benefits including pension, private health insurance, income protection scheme, 25 days annual leave plus up to 3 additional company days off, generous training and career development supports, flexible working hours and work from home set up supported.

Role Purpose

We are seeking a motivated and innovative Research Fellow to join the Lassa LIFT consortium at NIBRT. The primary focus is to identify, develop and verify thermostabilising formulations and processes for this live virus vector vaccine using pharmaceutical and virology methodologies. The successful candidate will perform research that focuses on developing drying processes and formulations for this virus vaccine, which can be transferred to a partner for subsequent manufacturing using scalable, production technologies.

The successful candidate will have a background in the pharmaceutical and vaccine sciences, with an ability to work to a high standard. The Fellow must have direct experience of working in vaccine or biopharmaceutical formulation and stabilization, ideally in a commercial environment. The Fellow must have excellent communication motivation, planning, organising skills, practical, problem solving, record-keeping skills and the ability to work as part of a team.

This role represents a step change from Post-Doctoral researcher roles as it combines high-quality, collaborative vaccine biopharmaceutical research with operational leadership. In partnership with the PI, the Fellow will have a leading role in the project within NIBRT. As such, in addition to contributing to the technical development of a stabilised vaccine for enhanced deployment this role offers the opportunity to develop as an independent investigator in the vaccine field and begin to move into a leadership role.

Key Responsibilities

The key responsibilities of the job include:

• Conduct a specified programme of research under the supervision and direction of a Principal Investigator/Project Leader to the highest standards of research integrity and health and safety.
• Assume a role in the design as well as the execution of this research.
• Prepare, submit and present relevant reports to partners and the funding body.
• Supervise, support and provide mentoring, and assistance to early career researchers and research assistants in the research group.
• Carry out relevant administrative and management work associated with this research.
• Maintain laboratory safety protocols, data integrity practices, and electronic notebook compliance.
• Collaborate with external partners to ensure efficient progress on the project.
• Participate in internal/external networks for the exchange of information and to form relationships for future research collaboration.
• Proactively identify opportunities for external funding sources, prepare grant proposals and assess research findings for potential commercial exploitation in collaboration with the PI.
• Engage in the wider research and scholarly activities of the research group and NIBRT and contribute to its profile by participating in outreach and dissemination promotion activities.
• Lead the drafting of high-impact peer-reviewed manuscripts and progress reports
• Actively contribute to writing and costing competitive global research grant proposals.
• Engage in appropriate training and development opportunities to develop own transferable skills, career and reputation.
• Carry out any additional duties as may reasonably be required within the general scope and level of the post.

NIBRT Employee Responsibilities:

• Conduct themselves in line with the NIBRT values, maintaining at all times a high standard of professionalism.
• Enhance the value derived through collaboration by participating in and/or working at company events (inside and outside of standard working hours), working in at least one of NIBRT's cross functional teams, providing feedback through survey or focus groups when asked to do so.
• Attend and/or complete mandatory training prescribed for all employees by NIBRT.
• Support colleagues and the institute by promoting the work and services of NIBRT through your media and networks.
• A Ph.D. in pharmaceutical aspects of vaccines or a PhD in virology or a strictly relevant discipline.
• Minimum of 5 years of postdoctoral or industry experience with a strong track record in biopharmaceutical formulation and stabilisation of live vaccines.
• The capacity to work independently on research projects.
• The ability to assess and evaluate concepts/theories in order to develop original solutions and particular knowledge of, and expertise in research methodologies.
• Track record of high quality peer reviewed publications and/or have experience of working in a commercial environment.
• Substantial technical experience with stabilising virus vaccines or labile biopharmaceuticals using lyophilisation. This includes pharmaceutical experience to develop and monitor formulations and processes to increase the shelf-life of viruses; experience in using systematic statistical methods to identify thermostabilisiing formulations and processes, using industry standard guidelines; strong expertise in virus potency assays.
• Proven experience in a management capacity within a laboratory setting (e.g., managing project budgets or mentoring junior staff).
• Experience in supervision of early career researchers and research technicians/assistants.
• Ability to contribute to broader organisational and management processes.
• Capability of working effectively within a team to achieve results.
• Excellent project management, organisational and communication skills.
• Ability to secure independent external research funding.
• Knowledge transfer and commercialisation experience.
• Industry experience.
• Experience of working in EU-funded consortia.

NIBRT is an Equal Opportunities Employer.