SENIOR SCIENTIST, Strain engineering

Position Overview

Sutro Biopharma, Inc. is looking for an energetic and talented individual to join the multidisciplinary Protein Biochemistry group within the Research Department and drive the research activities of the strain engineering program. You will be working to understand and improve the performance of a novel prokaryotic system for biosynthesis of secreted mammalian proteins by designing and executing experiments on protein expression, downstream processing and analysis. Responsibilities extend from gene design through strain characterization, pilot scale protein expression and processing and analysis of expressed protein product.  The candidate will design & validate protein expression appropriate to the scale, number-of-samples, and required purity level for the given project, and will implement appropriate assays to characterize product and to better understand the technology and process.  In addition, the successful candidate will be required to interface with external collaborators, make presentations to internal and external collaborators and senior management, and to author internal and external publications.

Responsibilities

• Help develop Sutro’s prokaryotic protein expression platforms
• Molecular biology including cloning, PCR, generating gene knock-ins and knock-outs
• Screening of new strains for growth, protein expression and product quality in shake flasks
• Evaluate strain performance in small-scale bioreactors through fed-batch or continuous fermentation
• Conduct mid-stream processing including harvest, cell lysis, clarification, and filtration
• Strain banking activities including Development Cell Bank production
• Coordinate early stage E. coli product testing

Key Internal and External Collaborations and Interface:

• The candidate will interface with DSP and analytical groups within Sutro.
• The candidate will also be responsible for managing external collaborations with vendors such as Genscript or InfinixBio required for strain engineering activities

Qualifications:

• The ideal candidate will have the following background/skill sets:
• Ph.D.  in Biochemistry or a related discipline with at least 5 year’s experience
• Hands-on experience working with small-scale bioreactors is required
• Experience optimizing and evaluating prokaryotic protein expression strains using plasmid transformation, lambda-red recombination and shake flask or bioreactor overexpression preferred
• Experience working with in vivo protein expression required. Experience working with antibodies or antibody fragments preferred
• Familiarity with molecular biology techniques including cloning, PCR, gene knock-ins and knock-outs
• Proficiency with common protein analytical techniques including SDS-PAGE, Western blotting and ELISA
• Familiarity with statistical analysis software for design of experiments, such as JMP, and sequence analysis software, such as SnapGene

Sound exciting? Apply today and join our team!

Sutro Biopharma, Inc. encourages all colleagues to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 prior to the first date of employment.

As an equal opportunity employer, we believe in fostering a culture that is inclusive and values diversity in background and opinions. Sutro Biopharma hires extraordinary individuals into every position in the company and is committed to the diversity of our team. Our company progresses without regard of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, age, disability or citizenship status. We are dedicated to creating a safe environment where our employees can grow and succeed together. 

We look forward to hearing from candidates who are interested in exploring opportunities with Sutro! Our People & Culture team/hiring managers are unable to respond and do not accept solicitations from third-party agencies.  

The anticipated salary range for fully qualified candidates applying for this role at Sutro Biopharma’s California based locations will be $155,000 - $168,000