Staff Research Associate, Molecular Engineering

About the position

We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Staff Research Associate to join the Molecular Engineering team inside the Genome Engineering Technology Center at Arc to support the development, optimization, and automation of critical platform capabilities, including high throughput cloning, molecular biology, and virus production for mammalian cell engineering. You will have the opportunity to partner closely with pioneering labs that have developed the fundamental toolbox for genome engineering and functional genomics screens (such as CRISPR nucleases, CRISPRi, CRISPRoff, CRISPRa, and serine or bridge recombinases). Additionally, you will play a critical role in the Institute’s Alzheimer’s Disease Initiative, which aims to identify and drug rational therapeutic targets for devastating neurodegenerative disorders.

The ideal candidate will have experience and proficient skills in high throughput molecular biology and genetic engineering techniques, with expertise in implementing, running, and troubleshooting workflows with an outstanding attention to detail. This is an excellent opportunity for a highly motivated and curious researcher interested in helping convert cutting-edge and novel molecular technologies into reproducible and robust tools for genetic perturbation. 

About you 

• You love science and learning. Whether it’s gaining knowledge in new fields of scientific research or learning a new lab technique, you never stop being curious and routinely enjoy stepping out of your comfort zone to learn new things. 
• You are flexible and adaptable, eager to try new ways of tackling problems beyond the approaches with which you’re familiar while also bringing energy and curiosity to the optimization of existing approaches.
• You have a creative and curious spirit, open and eager to try new ways of tackling problems beyond the approaches with which you’re familiar.
• You can work fast and are detail-oriented. You are careful and diligent about good documentation practices and keeping things organized while moving at a rapid pace. 
• You show initiative and can effectively work independently while also adapting well to situations where collaboration and communication with other RAs / Scientists will bring the best results.
• You respect the process and are comfortable carrying out the routine execution of tasks while identifying opportunities to troubleshoot and improve bottlenecks.
• Your organizational skills enable you to manage multiple concurrent projects, and your curiosity and creativity drive you to continuous learning and innovation.

In this position you will.

• Develop and optimize scalable workflows for executing on Arc’s Alzheimer’s Disease Initiative (high throughput cloning, lentiviral production, and cell line engineering) and other technology development projects (novel effector systems, multiplexed perturbations, new delivery technologies).
• Build a center of excellence (plasmids, mRNA, virus, LNPs, etc.) to enable arrayed genetic perturbations in hPSC-derived cells.
• Utilize a wide array of high-throughput molecular biology techniques, such as Gibson and Golden gate assembly, DNA/RNA isolation, cDNA synthesis, qPCR, ddPCR, and more.
• Conduct mammalian cell culture and transfection-based experiments, including flow cytometry readouts.
• Leverage automation to help execute, streamline, optimize, and track molecular biology workflows.
• Help organize materials and reagents with detailed tracking in our LIMS system.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams at Arc.
• Analyze and present data at internal meetings and seminars.
• Execute tasks and experiments with a focus on efficiency and reproducibility. 

Requirements

• BS/MS or equivalent professional experience in Biology, Biotechnology, Genetics, Cellular Biology, or relevant fields.
• With a BS degree, 7+ years of technically relevant experience or with an MS degree, 5+ years of relevant postgraduate experience. Industry experience is desirable but not required.
• Relevant lab experience including demonstrated and proficient skills in high throughput cloning, molecular biology, virus production, and mammalian cell engineering.
• Detail-oriented with excellent organizational and time management skills.
• Strong oral and written communication skills. 
• Ability to multitask, willingness to learn, and work in a highly collaborative environment.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience and knowledge of techniques for the routine characterization of genetically modified cells such as flow cytometry, qPCR, western blotting, or NGS. 
• Experience with CRISPR-Cas9 or other genome editing or perturbation techniques.
• Familiarity with techniques for stem cell and progenitor cell culturing and genetic manipulation.
• Experience running and troubleshooting lab automation scripts on liquid handling robots from Tecan, Hamilton, Beckman, or similar.
• Experience with LIMS systems, ideally Benchling.
• Experience analyzing large data sets preferably using data scripting tools such as Python or R.

The base salary range for this position is $90,000 to $114,000. These amounts reflect the range of base salary that the Institute reasonably would expect to pay a new hire or internal candidate for this position. The actual base compensation paid to any individual for this position may vary depending on factors such as experience, market conditions, education/training, skill level, and whether the compensation is internally equitable, and does not include bonuses, commissions, differential pay, other forms of compensation, or benefits. This position is also eligible to receive an annual discretionary bonus, with the amount dependent on individual and institute performance factors.