Scientist or Sr Scientis Molecular Biology

Scientist/Sr. Scientist (Molecular Biology) 

Join us for a unique opportunity to help shape an early-stage gene therapy company that is on the journey of developing a potentially game-changing technology. We are seeking a candidate who has a track record of successfully applying molecular biology approaches to gain mechanistic insight of nucleic acid interacting proteins and to improve its functionality 

Responsibilities 

The high-level responsibility for this role includes the design, construction and evaluation of critical molecular components of our founding technology with the aim of improving their functional performance in vitro and in vivo.  

The specific responsibilities include: 

• Generate proposals to modify domains or modules of macromolecules to improve critical performance parameters and design effective experiments to test them. 

• Apply appropriate molecular cloning strategies to efficiently generate a repertoire of constructs to enable parallel and high throughput evaluation. 

• Produce small scale testing materials (e.g. IVT RNAs) either directly or through collaboration with other team members.  

• Propose and develop evaluation approaches to assess the performance of the new designs at different stages and to a varying degree of throughput as appropriate. 

• Apply target-specific RNA and DNA analyses as well as genomic-scale sequencing analysis to assess performance in efficiency, specificity and fidelity from cultured cells. 

• Apply protein analysis approaches to monitor and quantify protein expression from cultured cells. 

• Train and supervise junior members on new protocols and techniques 

• Present plans and results regularly at team meetings and participate in brainstorming discussions to collectively solve problems and develop new ideas. 

• Stay current with relevant scientific literature and implement new techniques or practices to improve quality and efficiency. 

Requirements: 

• Must have a PhD or equivalent degree with 2+ years of postdoctoral and industry experience 

• Proficiency in molecular cloning approaches such as restriction digestion, Gateway, Gibson assembly, and site-directed mutagenesis. 

• Experience in using bioinformatics and molecular biology software to analyze DNA, RNA, and protein sequences. 

• Expertise in studying RNA/DNA-binding enzymes such as polymerases or reverse transcriptases, especially in performing structure and function analyses, is highly desirable 

• Experience in applying qPCR, RT-qPCR, or ddPCR to quantitatively analyze RNA and DNA extracted from cultured cells is essential. 

• Experience in applying NGS (short reads and long reads) to assess rare events resulting in genomic DNA modifications (bulk or single cell) is highly desirable. 

• Skills in bioinformatics including basic coding skills in R and/or Python sufficient to enable adoption of emerging bioinformatics tools would be a plus. 

• Experience with protein analyses techniques such as SDA-PAGE, Western Blot, immunoprecipitation, and ELISA from cultured cells would be desirable 

• Critical analytical skills and ability to lead independent hypothesis-driven biological research, as demonstrated by high quality publications.  

• Possesses intellectual curiosity and motivation for continued learning and improvement.  

• Excellent oral and written presentation skills, creative problem-solving abilities and a collaborative team player who thrives in a fast-moving and results-driven startup environment. 

Education and Experience 

Ph.D. in life science or related fields, ideally with industry experience 

Compensation 

Competitive compensation package consisting of base salary, annual performance bonus, incentive and equity/stock participation. 

Location 

Berkeley, California 

About The Company 

Addition Therapeutics is an early stage, venture-funded gene-therapy company. We have a breakthrough technology for safe gene insertion into the genome. The implications of this technology are enormous and could potentially disrupt the gene therapy landscape. While the company is at an early stage, the underlying technology is well validated and attracting considerable investor and pharma interest. The company is working to advance the technology and move therapeutic indications into the clinic.