Luke Doyle

I am carrying out my third year placement in VLE Therapeutics, a spin out company from APC, focusing on good manufacturing practice (GMP)-compliant clinical-grade manufacturing.

This placement has given me great insight into two main aspects of the pharmaceutical industry. Firstly, I have gained a practical understanding of the activities used in both research and development, as well as manufacturing, and the flow of operations required to execute or develop a process.

Secondly, I have gained an understanding of all the components required to qualify and operate a GMP cleanroom facility and the various workstreams. Everything from the engineering qualification of the systems to the QA and QC processes, the transfer of material/stock, the operational requirements and the regulation which underpins it all.

It is a great opportunity to broaden my understanding of concepts seen in areas such as regulatory science, biopharmaceutical manufacturing and pharmaceutics and build on past theoretical knowledge.

The most rewarding part of this experience has undoubtedly been the team I have been involved with and the people in the wider organisation. I found that everyone I’ve asked for assistance, an insight or explanation on something has been more than happy to take the time to offer the guidance I required.

Furthermore, it is greatly rewarding to complete tasks or experiments which we have worked on as a team and attain a satisfactory result. It’s great to be making a useful contribution to the development and progress of a project or towards the achievement of an organisational goal.

Luke Doyle, Advanced Therapeutic Technologies