Your Impact at LILA
We're hiring a Senior Research Associate to support development and execution of display workflows to determine the binding, stability, and function of antibodies and other biologics. The role will develop and execute assays to generate highly multiplexed, high-dimensional datasets, and will continually optimize those assays to improve precision, scope, reliability, and speed. You will collaborate with synthetic biologists, automation engineers, and others to make these assays automation-ready.
This role partners across cell biology, protein design, and nucleic acid teams to support biologic development programs and the development of scientific super intelligence.
What You'll Be Building
- Support development of in vitro and in vivo display workflows to determine the binding, stability, and function of antibodies and other biologics.
- Implement display workflows to support antibody and biologic development programs and to generate novel high-dimensional datasets that advance scientific super intelligence.
- Partner with protein design, nucleic acid, protein, and automation teams to create highly precise and complex libraries of protein designs.
- Utilize MACS and FACS for the selection of biologics with desired properties.
- Closed-loop experimentation and execution: partner closely with engineering and automation to design and exercise platforms for automated, high-throughput experimentation and data-rich workflows.
- Collaborate, lead, and communicate: work with cell biologists, synthetic biologists, automation engineers, protein design scientists, and data scientists to document systems, share insights, and refine best practices in autonomous science.
What You'll Need to Succeed
- MSc in Molecular Biology, Biotechnology, or a related field with 1+ year of experience, or BSc with 3+ years, developing antibodies or peptides using display-based methods (in vitro or yeast display).
- Expertise using pooled display assays in antibody development.
- Experience selecting antibodies using yeast or in vitro (mRNA/ribosome/cDNA) display techniques.
- Experience culturing yeast, bacteria, or phage and expressing proteins for display.
- Expertise with molecular biology techniques (in vitro transcription and translation, PCR, bead-based selections and purifications, reverse transcription, library cloning, sequencing library construction for NGS).
- Experience with magnetic bead-based purification and selections.
- Experience with flow cytometry and sorting yeast using FACS.
- Experience with novel assay development.
- Experience with analysis of NGS sequencing data supporting display campaigns.
Bonus Points For
- Experience operating Illumina sequencers.
- Experience with automation.
- Experience with single cell or in situ sequencing.
Compensation
We offer competitive base compensation with bonus potential and generous early-stage equity. Your final offer will reflect your background, expertise, and expected impact.
U.S. Benefits. Full-time U.S. employees receive a comprehensive benefits program including medical, dental, and vision coverage; employer-paid life and disability insurance; flexible time off with generous company wide holidays; paid parental leave; an educational assistance program; commuter benefits, including bike share memberships for office based employees; and a company subsidized lunch program.
International Benefits. Full-time employees outside the U.S. receive a comprehensive benefits program tailored to their region. USD salary ranges apply only to U.S.-based positions; international salaries are set to local market.
Expected Base Salary Range
$80,000—$102,000 USD
About LILA
Lila Sciences is building Scientific Superintelligence™ to solve humankind's greatest challenges. We believe science is the most inspiring frontier for AI. Rather than hard-coding expert knowledge into tools, LILA builds systems that can learn for themselves.
LILA combines advanced AI models with proprietary AI Science Factory™ instruments into an operating system for science that executes the entire scientific method autonomously, accelerating discovery at unprecedented speed, scale, and impact across medicine, materials, and energy. Learn more at www.lila.ai.
Guided by our core values of truth, trust, curiosity, grit, and velocity, we move with startup speed while tackling problems of historic importance. If this sounds like an environment you'd love to work in, even if you don't meet every qualification listed above, we encourage you to apply.
We’re All In
Lila Sciences is 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.
Information you provide during your application process will be handled in accordance with our Candidate Privacy Policy.
A Note to Agencies
Lila Sciences does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Lila Sciences or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Lila Science’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Lila Sciences, and Lila Sciences will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.