Here at Berkeley Lights, we think cells are awesome! Cells are capable of manufacturing cures for diseases, fibers for clothing, energy in the form of biofuels, and food proteins for nutrition. So the question is, if nature is capable of manufacturing the products we need in a scalable way, why aren’t we doing more of this? Well, the answer is that with the solutions available today, it is hard. It takes a long time to find the right cell for a specific job, costs lots of money, and if you have picked a suboptimal cell line, has a very low process yield. Berkeley Lights has the complete solution to find the best cells by functionally screening and recovering individual cells for antibody discovery, cell line development, T cell analysis, and synthetic biology. Our proprietary technology and Beacon® and LightningTM systems accelerate the rate researchers can discover and develop cell-based products in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost of conventional, legacy research methods. Using our tools and solutions, scientists can find the best cells, the first time they look.
Our goal is to continue to collaborate with customers to drive the adoption of our technologies, making cell-based products and therapeutics more easily accessible the world over! You will play a major role here and our success depends on you! We have been changing how the world develops cell-based products since 2011, and now our family of around 250 employees welcomes you to consider joining us on this incredible journey.
Berkeley Lights is recruiting a Scientist to join our team of biologists, working in collaboration with instrument and software engineers as we scale down synthetic biology workflows to the single cell level on our platform to achieve high throughput, automated solutions for assay development. The candidate will work closely with our research and applications development teams to build upon our current capabilities and transition synthetic biology workflows to the nanoscale. The ideal candidate will have strong troubleshooting skills in assay development and validation. As well as having the ability to collaborate on inventing and quickly diverging from established protocols to generate
iterative, novel solutions to complex and fun challenges.
Primary Responsibilities:
Generation of reagents, constructs and cell lines for testing biology systems on the Berkeley Lights platform
Working at the bench to test, dissect and understand existing assay systems
Design and develop novel assay systems that translate to the nano-scale
Working with cross-functional teams of other scientists to deploy and optimize new assays on the Berkeley Lights platform
Quickly come up to speed with established customer biochemistry/molecular biology developmental assays
Collaborate directly with application development scientists and engineers to understand project goals, experimental design details and deliverables
Provide inventive workflow solutions for internal development teams, collaborators and customers
Present results effectively to management and development teams, with the ability to define clear actionable next steps
Required Skills & Experience:
PhD with 0-2 years or MS with 3+ years experience in Microbiology, Biology, Genetics, Biochemistry, Cell biology or related field of research in an academic or industry setting
Hands-on experience with mammalian cell/tissue culture, cell-based functional assays, cell line engineering, transient transfection, protein expression and purification.
Experience in microorganisms including bacteria, yeast and fungi.
Proficient with molecular biology techniques including cloning, PCR/qPCR, DNA/RNA sample preparation, ELISA etc.
Excel at data driven process development and optimization and the ability to communicate these findings.
Demonstrated understanding of multiple plate based assay methods for cellular product quantification
Experience with strain engineering and cell line development using the concept of synthetic biology or metabolic engineering
Ability to go “off-protocol” and invent new solutions to complex problems
Additional Skills & Experience:
Familiarity with sequencing techniques including Sanger sequencing and NGS.
Knowledge of enzyme assay development and kinetic characterization
Ability to quickly adapt to and learn new technological platforms, including being able to troubleshoot instrument issues
Excel in technology development with demanding schedules and deliverables
Outstanding verbal and written communication skills to clearly articulate ideas
Excellent collaboration and interpersonal skills to work well with scientists and engineers having widely divergent backgrounds
Experienced and confident in a fast-paced, start-up work environment
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