Research Associate, Protein Production

The role

The Research Associate II will expand protein production capabilities through bulk expression and high-throughput parallel production. This laboratory-facing role executes scalable protein expression, purification, normalization, and characterization workflows.

What you will do

• Execute multi-liter recombinant expression campaigns in bacteria.
• Design, build, and run preparative purification methods on ÄKTA FPLC systems.
• Deliver milligram-to-gram quantities of highly pure, well-characterized protein.
• Troubleshoot expression and purification challenges.
• Perform bacterial library transformation, colony picking and sequencing.
• Execute miniaturized, parallel protein expression and purification in plate-based formats.
• Operate, maintain, and troubleshoot liquid handlers and magnetic-bead purification platforms.
• Run high-throughput protein analytics including capillary electrophoresis and analytical SEC/SEC-HPLC.
• Translate methods between scales from preparative to miniaturized formats.
• Maintain meticulous record-keeping and sample traceability.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in biochemistry, molecular biology, biotechnology, bioengineering, synthetic biology or a related scientific discipline with 1-4 years of relevant academic and/or industry experience
• Hands-on experience with recombinant protein expression and production workflows in E. coli.
• Direct, hands-on experience operating ÄKTA FPLC systems, including designing, executing, and troubleshooting purification methods in UNICORN.
• Demonstrated proficiency across multiple column purification modalities.
• Demonstrated experience working at both preparative and parallel, plate-based production scales.
• Exceptional organization and record-keeping skills.
• Core molecular biology skills, including plasmid preparation, cloning, and transformation.
• Ability to independently execute experiments, analyze data, and troubleshoot technical problems.
• Ability to maintain flexibility in a collaborative, matrixed research environment.
• Strong communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills.

Nice to have

• Experience with magnetic-bead–based purification platforms such as the Thermo KingFisher.
• Familiarity with cell-free or yeast expression systems.
• Hands-on experience programming and operating liquid handlers and robotic workstations (e.g., Hamilton, Tecan, Opentrons, Bravo).
• Comfort organizing and analyzing experimental data in Excel, Python, or similar tools, and maintaining structured records in an ELN or LIMS.

Benefits

• Healthcare coverage
• Annual incentive program
• Retirement benefits
• Broad range of other benefits

About the company

FL116 is an early-stage biotechnology company backed by Flagship Pioneering. The company is transforming the way biomolecules are synthesized through an innovative platform.