Featured Exosome Job – Research Associate II, Exosome Engineering, Protein Sciences

Mantra Bio is seeking a highly motivated protein chemist / cell biologist to develop, produce, and characterize our next generation of exosome therapies. In your role as a lab scientist, you will be working both independently and as part of a team exploring a variety of approaches to engineer targeted exosomes. You will also work cross-functionally with scientists, engineers, and data scientists to rapidly iterate, and optimize engineered exosomes with varying scaffold and cargo designs in a fast, nimble and highly collaborative atmosphere. You are someone who is operationally minded, able to run multiple projects in parallel with high attention to detail, and motivated to contribute towards driving the team and projects forward. A successful applicant will have significant prior experience in protein design, expression, production, and characterization using both biophysical and cell based approaches to validate quality and purity.

Responsibilities:

• Assist R&D scientists in the design, production, and characterization of exosomes using techniques such as  transient transfection, chromatographic purification, and affinity characterization by flow cytometry or cell binding assays
• Maintain suspension/adherent cell cultures and perform transient transfection at small and large scale
• Assist R&D scientists is purification of soluble protein targets for use in in vitro binding assays
• Work closely with scientists to interpret data and optimize protein designs for development of novel  approaches, procedures and techniques
• Independently plan and execute experiments. Organize, analyze, and communicate results in team meetings
• Ensure the laboratory and analytical instruments are well maintained and troubleshoot potential issues
• Coordinate tasks across multiple projects, demonstrating prioritization and planning. We are a start-up and are looking for applicants who are self-motivated critical thinkers driven to meet project timelines and willing to adapt in a highly dynamic and fast moving environment
• Provide creative and innovative solutions to problems.  Make informed decisions derived from careful attention to detail

What We’re Looking For:

• B.A./B.S. degree with 4+ years of experience or MS degree with 2+ years of experience. Industry experience preferred
• Experience in transient transfection producing secreted proteins, receptors, and/ or antibodies
• Proficient in transient protein production maintaining suspension and adherent cell lines with excellent cell culture aseptic techniques
• Experience in determining product quality and potency by a variety of assays including SDS-PAGE, HPLC, interferometry, SPR, ELISA, and reporter cell assays
• Familiarity with producing extracellular vesicles, VLPs, or AAVs is a plus
• Ability to design and implement adequate experimental controls
• Demonstrated ability to work independently hands-on as well as within a multi-functional team
• Be creative, innovative, and self-motivated in problem solving. Able to pay attention to details and make informed hypotheses
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including clear, succinct, and timely communication and proven ability to foster strong relationships with other team members
• Highly self-motivated and detail-oriented, with proven ability to work in a dynamic, fast-moving team
• Comfortable working with a data-driven team and collaborating with research scientists, data scientists and platform engineers from different backgrounds
• Familiarity or experience with statistical analysis of data, nice to have