Research Associate, Cloning

Company Summary:

Arana Biosciences is one of the latest companies founded through Flagship Pioneering’s venture creation engine, where companies such as Moderna Inc. and Indigo Ag were conceived and created. Since Flagship’s founding in 2000, the firm has originated and fostered the development of nearly 100 scientific ventures resulting in $19+ billion in aggregate value, 500+ issued patents, and more than 50 clinical trials for novel therapeutic agents. Arana Biosciences is integrating the latest developments in molecular biology and plant biology to create a new platform technology that enables adaptive, targeted and sustainable solutions in agriculture.

Position Summary:

We are seeking a highly motivated, proactive, and detail-oriented Research Associate, Cloning to provide bench support for “Design” and “Build” cloning workflows. This is an opportunity to work with exceptional scientists to develop cutting-edge technology to revolutionize sustainable agriculture. This position is engineering-focused and requires a creative yet pragmatic person to translate design ideas for new molecular constructs through tactical planning and execution of cloning workflows to generate project deliverables. The ideal candidate is goal-oriented and motivated to innovate new strategies to scale throughput using the latest software and laboratory automation technology. The successful candidate is highly organized, comfortable working in a fast-paced entrepreneurial environment, and an integral part of a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary team. Excellent communication, record-keeping, and teamwork will be critical.

Key responsibilities include:

• Collaborate with scientists and project managers to develop “build” workflows for a wide variety of cloning projects.
• Deliver on plans to build all constructs and libraries from project proposal.
• Identify and implement QA/QC checks to continuously improve cloning workflows.
• Communicate results and key performance indicators (KPIs) via ELN, dashboards, technical reports and oral presentations.
• Ability to independently troubleshoot, solve difficult problems, and find solutions for cloning roadblocks or bottlenecks.
• Work with software and automation specialists to scale bench protocols to automated lab workflows.

Required skills:

• Strong expertise in a variety of cloning technologies (Gibson, GoldenGate, etc.)
• Strong expertise in molecular biology and RNA work. 
• Exceptional organization skills.
• Experience with project management tools is desirable.
• Experience with working at scale and the operation of laboratory automation equipment is desirable.
• Excellent communications skills and ability to work with a diverse interdisciplinary team.

Minimum qualifications:

• BS or MS in Molecular Biology, or a related discipline.
• 3+ years professional laboratory experience; experience working in an industrial molecular biology lab performing routine PCR, gel electrophoresis, nucleic acid purification/quantification, Gibson and/or Golden Gate assembly, bacterial transformation, and basic microbiological techniques is highly desirable.
• Enthusiasm for science and willingness to adapt to the changing needs of a fast-paced research and development effort. 
• Adaptive and a quick learner, efficient in multi-tasking and trouble-shooting.
• A strong self-starter, results oriented with a strong attention to detail.

Location: Cambridge, MA

More About Flagship Pioneering

Flagship Pioneering conceives, creates, resources, and develops first-in-category life sciences companies to transform human health and sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, the firm has, through its Flagship Labs unit, applied its unique hypothesis-driven innovation process to originate and foster more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in over $50B in aggregate value. To date, Flagship has deployed over $2.2B in capital toward the founding and growth of its pioneering companies alongside more than $18B of follow-on investments from other institutions. The current Flagship ecosystem comprises transformative companies, including Seres Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MCRB), Indigo Ag, Invaio Sciences, Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), Generate Biomedicines, Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ: DNLI), Senda Biosciences and Foghorn Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FHTX).

Flagship Pioneering and our ecosystem companies are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.   Recruitment & Staffing