Joseph G. Joyce PhD

Joseph G. Joyce, Ph.D. is Director of downstream process development in the department of Vaccine Process Development at Merck Research Laboratories. Joe joined Merck in 1989 working as a protein biochemist and completed his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1998. Joe has worked on multiple microbial and viral vaccine programs encompassing a wide variety of vaccine modalities. Important highlights include contributions to the development of licensed vaccines RecombivaxHB® for hepatitis B, and Gardasil® for human papillomavirus infection, where he played a key role in establishing purification and characterization protocols for HPV virus-like particles produced in yeast.. For 15 years, Joe led a centralized group responsible for antigen identification, production, and characterization within the vaccine discovery space prior to assuming his current role in preclinical development in late 2013. Projects which he currently has responsibility for include investigational pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (V114) and cytomegalovirus vaccine (V160), both of which are in clinical trials, and contributions to life cycle management for several licensed Merck vaccines including the varicella franchise. Additional vaccine programs which Joe has worked on include HIV-1, Clostridium difficile, Dengue, malaria, and Chlamydia trachomatis.