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 contract Research Associate to join our Delivery and Transformation team. The role requires a strong practical background in plant science, plant pathology, molecular biology, and microbiology. This is an excellent opportunity to gain hands-on experience in developing cutting-edge techniques for plant transformation in diverse plant systems. The successful candidate will be highly organized and comfortable working as an integral member of a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary team in a fast-paced entrepreneurial environment. Excellent communication, record-keeping, and teamwork skills will be critical.
Key Responsibilities Include:
- Working with a team of scientists to innovate, optimize, and execute various plant delivery and transformation methods.
- Supporting various plant transformation workflows at the company.
- Sampling plants for molecular assays used as experimental readouts.
- Troubleshooting transformation protocols, solving difficult experimental problems, and proposing solutions related to transformation methods and bioassays.
Basic Qualifications:
- BS in Plant Science, Plant Pathology, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, or a related discipline.
- Minimum of 2 years professional laboratory experience with experience working in industry a plus.
Additional Qualifications:
- Experience with common plant transformation methods, including biolistic and Agrobacterium approaches.
- Expertise in handling plant tissues and sampling plants for assays.
- Expertise in molecular biology techniques, including in vitro transcription, qPCR, and ELISA.
- Experience with DNA, RNA, and protein isolation and purification.
- Experience with RNA-related workflows and RNA-protein interaction is a plus.
- Hands-on experience with bacterial, fungal, and/or viral pathogens in economically important crops a plus.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills and ability to work with a diverse interdisciplinary team.
- Demonstrated organizational and record-keeping skills.
- 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 property of FSP, and FSP will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.
