Scientist II – Throughput Genome Engineering

Are you ready for new challenges and new opportunities? Join our team in Seattle!
Current job opportunities are posted here as they become available.

The mission of the Allen Institute is to unlock the complexities of bioscience and advance our knowledge to improve human health. Using an open science, multi-scale, team-oriented approach, the Allen Institute focuses on accelerating foundational research, developing standards and models, and cultivating new ideas to make a broad, transformational impact on science.

Join the Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology (Sea Hub), an initiative at the intersection of academic creativity and start-up style execution. Our mission is to reimagine living cells and genomes as devices for recording biology and diagnostic information over time, as well as for encoding real-time therapeutic decision-making. At Sea Hub, we work to pioneer a kind of in vivo cellular flight recorder that can also seize the controls.

Sea Hub’s “Write” Team seeks a highly experienced genome engineer to join us at the level of Scientist II. The Write team is responsible for expanding our ability to efficiently store biological records in genomic DNA. We are part of a larger effort that includes teams focused on expanding our ability to engineer cells, genomes and mice to autonomously “Sense,” “Read,” and “Act” at a molecular level, expanding upon the prime editing-based DNA Typewriter technology (Choi Nature 2022).

At the Allen Institute, we believe that science is for everyone – and should be open to everyone. We are dedicated to combating biases and reducing barriers to STEM careers more broadly. We also believe that science is better when it includes different perspectives and voices. We strive to make the Allen Institute a place where everyone feels like they belong and are empowered to do their best work in a supportive environment.

We are an equal-opportunity employer and strongly encourage people from all backgrounds to apply for our open positions.

• Collaboratively ideate, vet, and execute strategy for expanding and improving genome writing capabilities, including selection or development of parallelized editing machinery in vitro and in vivo
• Design and perform experiments to improve performance of genome writing operations, including improving signal-to-noise, fidelity, and efficiency, ideally ensuring high, uniformity of activity across cell types
• Troubleshoot technical barriers to genome editing, such as differentiation-induced silencing
• Optimize synthetic DNA delivery using methods like piggy
  
  BAC, landing pad integration or viral transduction
• Perform advanced genomics protocols (e.g., custom amplicon sequencing, RNA-seq, single cell RNA-seq, ATAC-seq)
• Independently execute molecular biology protocols, including molecular cloning, flow cytometry, quantitative PCR, ddPCR
• Establish SOPs for novel assays and work with junior scientists to implement them in a screening pipeline
• Work with computational scientists to assess editing performance and recommend process improvements to maximize data utility
• Review and analyze data, participating in quality control and troubleshooting of processes and results
• Enact projects with start-up style execution, project organization, and pacing
• Train, mentor and may manage others to perform the above functions
• Maintain a detailed electronic lab notebook and create presentations to summarize progress and frame internal decision-making
• Comply with SOPs, good laboratory practices, and regulatory requirements
• Adhere to a team schedule and individual time management
• Other duties as assigned

Note:

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. This description reflects management’s assignment of essential functions; it does not proscribe or restrict the tasks that may be assigned.

• Ph.D in Genomics, Molecular Biology, Bioinformatics, Cell Biology, Genetics, Synthetic Biology, Bioengineering, or related field; or equivalent combination of degree and experience
• 3 years’ post-doctoral experience