Senior Research Associate, Plant Transformation

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 Senior Research Associate, Plant Transformation to join our team. The role requires a strong practical background in plant pathology, molecular biology, and microbiology. This is an excellent opportunity to gain hands-on experience in innovating various cutting-edge techniques for plant transformation and developing molecular assays in diverse plant systems. 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:

• Work with a team of scientists to innovate, optimize and execute various plant transformation methods.
• Support various plant transformation workflows at the company.
• Responsible for sample preparation, and molecular assays for experimental readouts.
• Ability to independently troubleshoot, solve difficult problems, and propose solutions related to assay design and execution.
• Demonstrated organizational and record-keeping skills. 

Required Skills:

• Expertise in handling plant tissues, bioassay development, and optimization.
• Expertise in molecular biology techniques including in vitro transcription, qPCR, ELISA, and Western blot.
• Experience with protein, DNA, and RNA isolation and purification.
• Experience with biolistic delivery and agrobacterium transformation in various plant systems. 
• Experience with RNA-related workflow and RNA-protein interaction is a plus.
• Hands-on experience with bacterial, fungus and viral pathogens in economically important crops.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and ability to work with a diverse interdisciplinary team.

Minimum Qualifications:

• BS in Molecular Biology, Plant Pathology, Microbiology, or a related discipline
• 3+ years of professional laboratory experience, experience working in industry is a plus.
• 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 troubleshooting.
• A strong self-starter, results-oriented with 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 Agencies: Flagship Pioneering and its affiliated Flagship Lab companies (collectively, “FSP”) do not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to FSP or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Flagship Pioneering’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the prope