SwiftScale Biologics uses our cell-free protein synthesis platform to enable (1) fast protein therapeutic development through to clinical batches and (2) synthesis of proteins that are very difficult to express in cells. Our mission is to use our platform technology to enable our partners to advance dozens of novel therapeutics to the clinic.

In this position, you will play a key role in our strain and metabolic engineering efforts. You will design and engineer the bacterial chassis organisms in our cell-free synthesis platform. Your work will be at the forefront of cell-free protein synthesis research as we engineer strains to produce complex proteins at high titers.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

• Design, implement, and troubleshoot bacterial strain engineering techniques.
• Design and construct microbial strains to optimize production of proteins in cell-free based on understanding of cell metabolism, review of relevant literature, and collaboration with scientific leadership.
• Design and implement screening or selection methods to quickly validate new constructs.
• Utilize bioinformatics DNA sequence analyses to design and validate successfully engineered strains.
• Collaborate with our synthetic biology, fermentation, purification, and regulatory teams to design, plan and execute demanding strain engineering and screening campaigns that produce strains to meet bioprocess needs and GMP requirements.
• Test the performance of the engineered strains using growth, metabolic, and productivity assays including fermentation, HPLC, ELISA, SDS-PAGE, Western Blotting, etc.
• Interpret and present experimental data to scientific, engineering, and leadership teams.

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE, EDUCATION, QUALIFICATIONS, AND CHARACTERISTICS:

• [Required] BS (+6 years experience), related MS (+4 years experience) or PhD (+2 years experience) in Bioengineering, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Chemical Engineering, Molecular biology, or other related fields.
• [Required] Expertise in bacterial engineering by single/double recombination, recombinase-based methods, or nuclease-based methods. Direct experience with both recombination and CRISPR/Cas9-based engineering methods preferred.
• [Required] Hands-on experience constructing and screening engineered bacterial strains for improved protein production
• [Required] Strong background in molecular biology, protein expression, and synthetic biology
• [Required] Direct experience in microbial fermentation, preferably for protein production.
• [Preferred] Experience in establishing high throughput screening and selection platforms for engineered strains with the desired phenotypes.
• [Preferred] Deep understanding of bacterial physiology, metabolic engineering, gene expression and gene regulation.
• [Preferred] Experience in implementing and improving automation and high throughput platforms to increase experimental throughput.
• [Preferred] Experience in protein and metabolic analytics including HPLC, ELISA, SDS-PAGE, LC-MS, Western Blotting, etc.
• [Preferred] Experience in bioprocessing research and development for a protein therapeutic or vaccine process under GMP requirements

OTHER IDEAL PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS:

• Demonstrated ability to interpret, compile, and present experimental data.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced company environment with a drive to creatively solve problems around how to speed up protein therapeutic development and experimental workflows.
• High intrinsic motivation and a desire to learn new techniques.
• Availability to work full-time hours at our Oakland, CA location.

Our work environment is focused on treating everyone on our team with respect, fostering a collaborative environment, taking ownership of our work, learning new skills, and having fun.

We offer growth opportunities and very competitive salaries/benefits.