Senior Research Associate, Functional Genomics

About Arc Institute

The Arc Institute is a new scientific institution conducting curiosity-driven basic science and technology development to understand and treat complex human diseases. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Arc is an independent research organization founded on the belief that many important research programs will be enabled by new institutional models. Arc operates in partnership with Stanford University, UCSF, and UC Berkeley.

While the prevailing university research model has yielded many tremendous successes, we believe in the importance of institutional experimentation as a way to make progress. These include:

• Funding: Arc fully funds Core Investigators’ (PIs’) research groups, liberating scientists from the typical constraints of project-based external grants.
• Technology: Biomedical research has become increasingly dependent on complex tooling. Arc Technology Centers develop, optimize and deploy rapidly advancing experimental and computational technologies in collaboration with Core Investigators. 
• Support: Arc aims to provide first-class support—operationally, financially and scientifically—that will enable scientists to pursue long-term high risk, high reward research that can meaningfully advance progress in disease cures, including neurodegeneration, cancer, and immune dysfunction.
• Culture: We believe that culture matters enormously in science and that excellence is difficult to sustain. We aim to create a culture that is focused on scientific curiosity, a deep commitment to truth, broad ambition, and selfless collaboration.

Arc scaled to nearly 100 people in its first year. With $650M+ in committed funding and a state of the art new lab facility in Palo Alto, Arc will continue to grow quickly to several hundred in the coming years.

About the position

We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Senior Research Associate to join the Functional Genomics team inside the Genome Engineering Technology Center at the Arc Institute. This position will support our efforts to develop and apply cutting-edge functional genomics approaches for high-throughput interrogation of mammalian genomes, transcriptomes and epigenomes with rich multi-omic readouts. You will play a critical role in the Virtual Cell Initiative, which aims to create the first foundational model that makes accurate predictions of cellular states and their response to intervention. You will also have the opportunity to partner closely with pioneering labs that have developed the fundamental toolbox for genome engineering and functional genomics screens, such as CRISPR nucleases, CRISPRi, CRISPRoff, CRISPRa, and serine or bridge recombinases.

The ideal candidate will have experience and proficient skills in mammalian cell culture and various cellular and molecular techniques, with working knowledge of genome editing techniques and the ability to execute and troubleshoot assays with an outstanding attention to detail. This is an excellent opportunity for a highly motivated and curious researcher interested in leveraging cutting-edge functional genomic technologies to drive innovative scientific discoveries.

About you

• You are passionate about science and learning. Whether it’s gaining knowledge in new fields of scientific research or learning a new lab technique, you never stop being curious and routinely enjoy stepping out of your comfort zone to learn new things.
• You are diligent, detail oriented, adaptable, and excels at troubleshooting.
• You are committed to generating high quality data and maintaining good documentation practices.
• You enjoy working collaboratively with others and thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic work environment.
• You respect the process and are comfortable carrying out the routine execution of tasks while identifying opportunities to troubleshoot and improve bottlenecks.

In this position you will

• Conduct routine mammalian cell culture, including cell line banking and expansion.
• Participate in efforts related to cell line engineering, characterization and the development of additional cell-based assays
• Support the execution of large in vitro perturbation screens and downstream sample preparation for NGS.
• Execute tasks and experiments with a focus on efficiency and reproducibility, following already established SOPs and ensuring accurate and reliable record keeping and documentation in our ELN and LIMS system.
• Analyze and present data at internal meetings and seminars.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams at Arc.
• Contribute to lab organization and maintenance, including rotating in regular cleaning schedules and inventory management of supplies and reagents.
  
  

Requirements

• BS/MS or equivalent professional experience in cell biology, molecular biology, genetics or another relevant field.
• BS degree, 4+ years of relevant experience or with a MS degree, 2+ years of relevant postgraduate experience. Industry experience is desirable but not required.
• Proficiency in mammalian cell culture procedures and associated aseptic techniques, including direct experiences in stem cells (e.g. ESC, iPSC) cell culture.
• Experience and knowledge of various cellular, molecular and biochemical techniques such as flow cytometry, viral production, qPCR, cloning and western blotting.
• Prior experience working with CRISPR-Cas9 or other genome editing or perturbation techniques.
• Detail-oriented with excellent organizational and time management skills.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to multitask, willingness to learn, and work in a highly collaborative environment. 
• Ability to work some weekends as needed (days off can be swapped for weekdays)

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with genomic protocols, especially scRNAseq.
• Experience with LIMS systems, ideally Benchling.
• Ability to analyze large and complex data sets using Python, R, or similar tools.

  

The base salary range for this position is $71,000 to $91,000. These amounts reflect the range of base salary that the Institute reasonably would expect to pay a new hire or internal candidate for this position. The actual base compensation paid to any individual for this position may vary depending on factors such as experience, market conditions, education/training, skill level, and whether the compensation is internally equitable, and does not include bonuses, commissions, differential pay, other forms of compensation, or benefits. This position is also eligible to receive an annual discretionary bonus, with the amount dependent on individual and institute performance factors.