Georgina Ferry interviews Carina Joe, Senior Postdoctoral Research Scientist in Vaccine Development, 1 September 2022.
Topics discussed include (00:00:32) early interest in science and route to current role at Oxford, particularly biotechnology, Masters course at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, PhD and work on vaccines including manufacturing process; (00:07:35) the process relating to identification of pathogens and use of vaccine development and manufacturing to create a vaccine technology to generate an immune response to the pathogen; (00:20:26) work at the Jenner Institute, particularly relating to good manufacturing practice in vaccine manufacturing; (00:22:41) work on advancing manufacturing scale using rabies vaccine with Sandy Douglas, optimising of process and advancement to clinical trial; (00:26:00) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:27:19) start of work on SARS-CoV-2 GMP production of vaccine [ChAdOx1]; (00:30:08) challenge of upscaling the manufacturing process to 200 litres; (00:35:38) improvement of productivity, modification of downstream process to accommodate; (00:38:30) work with scientists at the Pall Laboratory in Portsmouth and transportation of starter cells; (00:42:22) timetable for development of the manufacturing process, including scale-up; (00:46:22) collaboration with members of the team, including Associate Professor Sandy Douglas and Dr Adam Ritchie and work schedule; (00:47:40) 200 litre scale-up using large bioreactor at Pall Lab, development of GMP protocol; (00:49:15) distribution to commercial entities to make ingredients using GMP protocol, including Oxford Biomedica, Serum Institute of India, Cobra (Biologics) and Halix (BV); (00:50:53) lab work and meetings with companies; (00:51:30) bottlenecks in the process of upscaling to 200 litres, revamp of downstream process to accommodate 1,000 plus litres; (00:56:15) use of process in the future and ChAdOx technology to manufacture different vaccines; (00:57:26) relentless nature of the work and adaptation for different vaccines; (00:58:56) vaccine equity and distribution to low and middle-income countries; (01:00:00) COVAX; (01:01:23) visits to manufacturing sites, including in France; (01:01:50) current work, including improvement in manufacturing process, particularly simplicity of design; (01:03:40) work/life balance, including current working hours and change from 2020; (01:05:30) remote working and changes lockdown brought to working life in general; (01:06:40) personal wellbeing, support of team at work, intense project workload against a tight timescale; (01:12:05) wellbeing as a result of project work; (01:12:56) changes in approach to work as a result of the project, including a change in perspective; (01:15:54) future hopes for career. Note: the following sections of audio are redacted (00:11:47) to (00:12:00) and (00:13:24) to (00:14:25).
