Senior Production / QC Radiochemist

About us

The PET Centre is part of Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London within the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences.

The Positron Emitting Radiopharmaceutical Laboratory (PERL) plays a crucial role in the clinical PET Centre, serving over 8,000 patients and research participants annually from South-East London and beyond. It is an integral part of both King's College London's School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences and Guy's & St Thomas' National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust. Our PET Center relies heavily on the PERL facility for the supply of radiopharmaceuticals and this is likely to become increasingly important when the new Total Body PET scanner is installed later this year.

Comprising two GMP clean rooms, a QC laboratory, and an R&D laboratory with a total of 24 hot cells, the PERL facility is equipped with a PETtrace high-energy cyclotron and various dispensing units, calibrators, and analysis equipment. It operates under a “Specials” manufacturing license, currently producing [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and [11C]methionine routinely, with ongoing development of additional radiotracers. We anticipate the availability of two more radiotracers for routine and research use by the end of 2024, with plans to expand the portfolio by two to three radiotracers annually.

About the role

The Senior Production/QC Radiochemist will work as part of a team of radiochemists involved in the production and/or QC of radiopharmaceuticals in accordance with GMP requirements to set production schedules.

Duties include the development of new tracers by performing practical validation work as directed by more senior radiochemists; to support GMP compliance by performing practical validation work and updating SOP’s as directed by more senior radiochemists; and to support the training of other staff members, performing routine tasks and administrative work and acting as the contact with the clinical team on occasions when the need arises or is assigned to.

This is a full time post (35 Hours per week), and you will be offered an indefinite contract.

About you

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria 

• Degree in chemistry or pharmacy OR Broad vocational experience, acquired through a combination of job-related vocational training and considerable on the job experience, demonstrating development through involvement in a series of progressively more demanding relevant work/roles. 
• Knowledge of PET radiotracer synthesis and QC 
• Radiochemistry/radiopharmacy laboratory experience 
• Practical experience with the production and/or QC of PET Radiopharmaceuticals 
• Knowledge of and proven record in adhering to the principles of GLP and GMP 
• Ability to amend documents eg SOPs 
• Excellent verbal & written communication skills 
• Excellent time keeping, reliable, Flexible and able to work with a variety of people with a Flexible approach to hours & duties and ability to work on own initiative and in a multi-disciplinary team

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge of Ionising Radiation protection regulations 
• Experience with automated synthesis equipment 
• Experience of production to GMP standards 

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