Apriori Bio is an early-stage biotechnology company with an ambitious and exciting mission: to lay the foundation for Global Pathogen Shield™ protective interventions that that can neutralize a wide range of the most dangerous and rapidly evolving infectious pathogen threats. The company is developing a revolutionary approach to this challenge and recruiting a team of top-tier scientists to build what it believes will be a powerful, first-in-category R&D platform.
Apriori Bio was founded by Flagship Pioneering, a biotechnology company that invents and builds platform companies, each with the potential for multiple products that transform human health or sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, Flagship has originated and fostered more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in more than $90 billion in aggregate value. Many of the companies Flagship has founded have addressed humanity’s most urgent challenges: vaccinating billions of people against COVID-19, curing intractable diseases, improving human health, preempting illness, and feeding the world by improving the resiliency and sustainability of agriculture. Flagship has been recognized twice on FORTUNE’s “Change the World” list, an annual ranking of companies that have made a positive social and environmental impact through activities that are part of their core business strategies, and has been twice named to Fast Company’s annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies. Learn more about Flagship at www.flagshippioneering.com.
Position Summary:
We are seeking an innovative and entrepreneurial Scientist (Sci I/ Sci II) with strong experience in molecular virology, lentiviral pseudotyping, and lentiviral vector production. The candidate will be responsible for the development of cell lines and cell culture processes to achieve high yields of lentiviral vectors. The ideal candidate will have a track record of success developing and optimizing cell lines and pseudotyped lentiviral vectors for discovery research. Experience in generating materials in suspension culture and/or bioreactors is highly desirable. This role requires collaboration with a matrixed team of scientists and computational biologists to deliver on the company platform and pipeline goals.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design and optimize cell culture processes for lentivirus production to achieve high quality and yields of lentiviral vectors
- Lead the development and implementation of strategies to scale up lentivirus production using engineered cell systems
- Conduct experiments, analyze data, and troubleshoot to improve cell line performance and productivity
- Consult on and design constructs for lentivirus production in engineered systems
- Work closely with other molecular virologists and computational scientists to support the design and deployment of innovative, proprietary assays
- Perform and oversee critical data-generating experiments
- Help build the infrastructure of laboratory protocols, tools, and systems to enable focused and rapid discovery and early pipeline development
- Communicate insights and conclusions to the scientific team and executive management
Minimum Qualifications:
- PhD. in molecular virology, cell biology, or a related field with 2-5 years experience
- Direct experience with stable cell line generation and selection
- Direct experience with lentiviral pseudotyping and lentivirus production in both small-scale suspension culture and bioreactors
- Experience with flow cytometry
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience with lentivirus library generation and/or high-throughput assay development
- Familiarity with NGS/RNA-Seq methods and their implementation
- Understanding of viral functional genomics and viral phylodynamics
Values and Behaviors
We are seeking individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit, strong communication skills, and comfort working in and contributing to a dynamic and cross-functional team environment. The level of the role will be commensurate with the education and years of experience of the identified candidate.
At Flagship, we recognize there is no perfect candidate. If you have some of the experience listed above but not all, please apply anyway. Experience comes in many forms, skills are transferable, and passion goes a long way. We are dedicated to building diverse and inclusive teams and look forward to learning more about your unique background.
Recruitment & Staffing Agencies: Flagship Pioneering and its affiliated Flagship Lab companies (collectively, “FSP”) do not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to FSP or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Flagship Pioneering’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of FSP, and FSP will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.
