Molecular Biology Research Associate

Molecular Biology Research Associate — AI & Biosecurity

Location: On-site in Somerville, MA (East Somerville / Inner Belt)

Dates: September 28–December 18, 2026

Schedule: 4 hours/day, Monday–Friday. Choose one consistent shift:

• 8:45 AM–12:45 PM

• 1:15 PM–5:15 PM

Compensation: $40/hour + eligibility for a $2,000 performance bonus

What can today's AI systems actually help someone accomplish in a real biology lab?

Active Site is recruiting a cohort of molecular biology associates for a 12-week research project investigating AI, DNA synthesis, and biosecurity
.

DNA synthesis screening is a critical safeguard between digital biological designs and their creation in the physical world. As AI systems become increasingly capable at designing and reasoning about DNA, researchers, synthesis providers, and policymakers need empirical evidence about how well today's safeguards perform in practice.

In this project, you'll work hands-on with frontier AI tools and benign proxy DNA sequences to stress-test the robustness of DNA synthesis screening. You'll independently design and execute experimental workflows in our BSL-1 lab and help generate real-world evidence about what AI-assisted molecular biology looks like today.

The project is being conducted alongside organizations working on DNA synthesis and technical safeguards, and its results are intended to inform both industry practice and emerging policy.

Active Site is a research nonprofit studying how frontier AI changes what people can accomplish in the physical biology lab.

Rather than relying only on benchmarks or hypothetical assessments, we run real-world experiments to measure AI's impact on biological research.

featured or cited in the Economist, the New York Times
, and Nature
.

If you want to work on questions at the intersection of AI, biotechnology, and real-world safety
, this is an opportunity to contribute directly to that research.

You'll own an independent research project from experimental design through validation focused on DNA assembly.

Your work may include:

• Designing DNA sequences, fragments, primers, and assembly strategies

• Setting up and troubleshooting PCR

• Running and interpreting agarose gels

• Purifying DNA and preparing samples for sequencing

• Analyzing sequencing results and alignments in tools like Benchling

• Performing molecular cloning

• Working with frontier AI tools such as Claude Code, Codex, and Biomni to help reason through experimental design and troubleshoot results

This role is intentionally high-autonomy
. You'll have access to our new, state-of-the-art laboratory and the resources needed to execute your project, but you'll be expected to make your own day-to-day experimental decisions rather than rely on step-by-step technical assistance.

You'll work alongside other research associates, but each associate will independently own their experimental strategy and work.

The most important qualification is real, hands‑on experience working independently with DNA
.

You should have independently:

• Set up and run PCR reactions

• Run agarose gels and interpreted the results

• Troubleshot experiments when amplification didn't work as expected

We're looking for someone who understands what they're doing at the bench — not someone who has only encountered PCR as part of a class or followed a protocol once or twice. You should be able to look at a gel, distinguish a clean band from a smear or failed amplification, and reason about what you would try next.

Strong plus, but not required We're especially interested in candidates who have gone further and independently owned DNA manipulation or molecular cloning workflows, including…