Commercial Co-Founder in Residence, Improving Recombinant Protein Titres

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are looking for a commercial co-founder with industry-specific, technical and commercial domain expertise with keen interest in founding, and building a global scale, impact driven, high growth company from ground up.

We are seeking applications from experienced industry, startup and/or new science-based technology development professionals from anywhere in the world to work with us on a novel technology that uses unexploited biology to unlock protein production with applications in biomanufacturing and therapeutics. 

This role is full-time, starting asap and fully remote until venture incorporation and spin-out, date TBD. 

THE OPPORTUNITY:
Low transgene expression and loss of  transgene expression over time is a significant challenge for the biomanufacturing industry, as well as a bottleneck for cell and gene therapy development. For the production of proteins , declining transgene expression over time reduces product titres, increases production costs and can prevent viable products from being made at all. In a world that is moving towards biomanufacturing, solving this challenge has the potential to unlock the full potential of biomanufacturing applications, enabling their development and increasing  scaling efficiency. With biologics revenue poised to overtake small molecule revenue globally in the coming years, and cell and gene therapies in its infancy, this is a challenge worth solving from a therapeutic and commercial perspective.

OUR APPROACH:
In contrast to current transgene optimisation tactics, we are learning from nature, leveraging novel and proprietary insights from human genetic elements which have evolved over millions of years. Buoyed by exciting proof of concept data, we are developing wet lab and computational systems to apply these novel mechanisms to biomanufacturing. Our mission is to significantly improve recombinant protein titres, increasing scaling efficiency and allowing difficult-to-express proteins to be commercially scaled for the first time.

Requirements

WHO SHOULD APPLY
Essential (must-have):                                                                                                                             

• PhD in molecular biology, biomedical engineering, molecular genetics, biochemistry or a similar field;
• Drug discovery or (pre-)clinical development expertise;
• Real-world and established network in biomanufacturing and/or gene therapies;
• Experience creating and managing commercial partnerships;
• Highly motivated by unsolved challenges in biomanufacturing and driven to transform the way we approach these challenges;
• Excellent entrepreneurial track record, demonstrated through impactful innovation and company creation/leadership;
• Fundraising expertise, particularly from VC.
  

Preferred (nice-to-have):

• Deep biological insight into gene expression pathways;
• An understanding of advanced computational approaches including generative AI and machine learning; 
• Track record of thought leadership in the field;
• Previously been an inventor/contributor on patents, etc.

Benefits

OUR OFFER:

By joining DSV, you’ll be joining a team of operators who have founded companies and led translation of science at some of the most respected universities, charities, funds and government agencies. 2/3 of the team have founded or led a company at C-suite and 65% have a PhD. Our team dedicate several hours every week to each Founder or founding team to provide tailored guidance, resources and feedback covering every aspect of what it takes to successfully launch a new venture from both the tech and commercial perspectives:

• We provide optimised, purpose-built, proprietary tools, resources and processes to help create high-impact ventures from scratch, using our venture creation methodology;
• We draw on opportunity area specific know-how provided by our network of Partners and Advisors;
• We provide pre-seed launch investment (subject to Investment Committee approval) to incorporate the new venture and develop early proof-of-concept data which is needed to attract high profile VCs as well as non-dilutive grant funding. We provide guaranteed income of £4,166 per month paid to each Founder-in-Residence as a fixed consultancy fee until the company is launched and the pre-seed investment is secured;
• You and the current Founder in Residence for this project, together with any additional co-founders, will own a majority equity stake in the company;
• We provide continuous support post spin-out, including fundraising, commercial partnerships, recruitment and team-building (amongst other things); plus
• There are dozens of Founders currently at DSV across sectors working collaboratively and supporting one another - a unique resource to draw on.
  

ABOUT DSV

Deep Science Ventures is creating a future in which both humans and the planet can thrive. 

We use our unique venture creation process to create, spin-out and invest into science companies, combining available scientific knowledge and founder-type scientists into high-impact ventures. 

We operate in 4 sectors: Pharmaceuticals, Climate, Agriculture and Computation, tackling the challenges defining those areas by taking a first principles approach and partnering with leading institutions.