RNA Delivery & Transformation Lead

Company Summary:

Arana Biosciences is one of the latest companies founded through Flagship Pioneering’s venture creation engine, where companies such as Moderna Therapeutics and Evelo Therapeutics 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:

Are you a highly motivated and driven team lead that wants to contribute to developing the company and products? We are seeking a determined, impact-driven RNA Delivery & Transformation Lead with a results-driven attitude and attention to detail who will drive critical pipeline development, research, strategy, and optimization. As a key leader in a small company, you would join a dynamic, diverse and inclusive team with ample opportunity to grow into areas of more responsibilities as we expand. This role requires a results-driven attitude and an eagerness for continued innovation with attention to partnering across the pipeline to help deliver products. The ideal candidate must be highly collaborative, self-motivated, and capable of developing and growing a team.

Responsibilities:

• Lead as a coach-player for the transformation team.
• Develop novel methods to deliver Arana proprietary technology to multiple crop species.
• Identify key areas for automation implementation and increase the throughput of the platform.
• Manage the resources of the team in context of our pipeline, working across development projects to ensure on-time and highly accurate data return to keep projects moving through the pipeline.
• Be a key part of the R&D leadership team, working with the CSO to help develop the scientific direction of the company.
• Own transformation and delivery across the company.
• Be the standard bearer for functional excellence in various methods of transformation.

Qualifications:

• PhD or equivalent experience in molecular biology, biotechnology, genetics or related field
• 3-5+ years industry experience
• Deep experience in multiple transformation techniques including agro based, ballistic, viral and nanoparticle
• Familiarity with various nanoparticle platforms and how to use them in plant biotechnology
• Extensive plant tissue culture experience
• Track record of success developing transformation platforms in species not previously transformed
• Demonstrated success increasing raising the transformation frequency across a program (transformation + regeneration)
• Direct experience with growing teams and developing platform strategy
• Proven track record of success creating knowledge from raw data at scale
• Familiarity with RNA biology, RNA encapsulation, RNA nanotechnology is preferred 
• RNA formulations and lipid nanoparticle (LNP) formulations is strongly preferred 

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 41 transformative companies, including Axcella Health (NASDAQ: AXLA), Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ: DNLI), Evelo Biosciences (NASDAQ: EVLO), Foghorn Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FHTX), Indigo Ag, Kaleido Biosciences (NASDAQ: KLDO), Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), Rubius Therapeutics (NASDAQ: RUBY), Sana Biotechnology, Seres Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MCRB), and Sigilon Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SGTX).

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 Agencies: Flagship Pioneering and its affiliated Flagship Lab companies (collectively, “FSP”) do not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidat