Senior Research Associate, Lentivirus Production

Outpace Bio is a drug development company reimagining cell function through protein design to make cells the future of medicine. We believe that cells are naturally programmed by evolution to make the wrong decisions in cancer and autoimmune disease, and curative cell therapies will only be achieved by overcoming the default biological mechanisms that limit their efficacy and safety. Led by co-founders of Lyell Immunopharma, our world-class scientific team is developing smart cell therapies that reprogram complex biological processes in ways that small molecules and biologics cannot. We use protein design and synthetic biology to engineer cells to make better decisions inside the patient and to productively engage the endogenous immune system. Our unique partnership model allows us to efficiently explore diverse cell therapy modalities and accelerates clinical validation so that we can bring curative therapies to patients. We value passion for science, innovation, collaboration, inclusion, and respect. 

At Outpace Bio, we believe that the highest performing teams include people from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. We are committed to building an open, diverse, and inclusive culture for all employees. Recognizing that the best candidates do not always match all criteria of the job description, we encourage you to apply if you think you would be a good fit for the role and are inspired by our mission to cure disease by pushing the boundaries of biology.

We are seeking a Senior Research Associate to join the viral vector production team at Outpace

Bio. In this role, you will support our vector Scientists to produce and characterize lentivirus for

our cell therapy applications; working closely with our Immunology, In Vivo, and Cloning teams

to ensure timely and high quality virus production. This person will also support our vector

Scientists in developing novel viral assays and testing potential improvements to our vector

production processes.

Successful candidates will have experience with sterile technique, mammalian cell culture,

transfection, viral transduction of primary human cells and cell lines, and flow cytometry

analysis. We are looking for candidates who are independent, highly motivated, organized,

willing to learn, and capable of rapidly generating quality materials to support our research

programs. If you are a hard-working team player with effective communication skills you will

thrive in our collaborative, fast-paced startup environment.

Responsibilities (Position responsibilities may include, but are not limited to):

• Produce and characterize lentivirus for Outpace teams
• Contribute to the optimization efforts to increase viral titers and purity
• Assist in scaling up lentiviral production to support process development and in vivo studies
• Perform functional titer and genome quantitation assays (i.e. flow cytometry and dPCR)
• Contribute to the development of new methods for upstream and downstream vector production methodologies

Qualifications (Required):

• Bachelor’s degree in Virology, Molecular Biology, Immunology, Cell Biology, gene therapy or related field; alternatively, position-relevant research experience in an academic or industry environment
• Independent / Semi-independent operation for day to day and experimental details
• Mammalian cell culture / sterile technique
• Experience or familiarity with small-scale lentivirus production (adherent or suspension) techniques
• Highly organized, attention to detail
• Able to learn new protocols quickly and think critically
• Effectively communicate and discuss results with others on the team
• Independent data analysis and comfortable planning and executing experiments
• Experience with flow analysis techniques, measuring viral titer by flow cytometry and ddPCR/digital PCR
• Hands-on experience with safely-handling lentivirus, transfection and transduction protocols

Qualifications (Preferred):

• 3+ years experience with mammalian cell culture
• Lentivirus production with suspension cultures (96W, 24W and shake flask scale)
• Experience with mammalian cell culture in bioreactors
• Downstream lentivirus experience, including TFF and chromatography
• Familiarity with molecular biology techniques, including isolation and quantification of DNA and RNA, PCR
• Experience with Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) systems – Benchling
• Ability to work efficiently, prioritize workflow, meet deadlines and work independently and collaboratively among cross-functional teams
• Experience with other viral vector systems (i.e., gamma retrovirus, AAV)

Full Time Employees (and their eligible dependents) may enroll in Outpace's medical, dental, vision, life insurance, disability, flexible spending account, and 401k plan. In addition, employees may receive stock option grants to be outlined in their offer of employment. Outpace employees enjoy flexible PTO, paid sick leave which complies with local requirements, and twelve paid holidays throughout the calendar year. Outpace also offers a generous paid parental leave policy to all regular full-time employees.

Outpace Bio is committed to a diverse workforce. Employment decisions regarding recruitment and selection will be made without discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, genetic information or characteristic, gender identity and expression, veteran status, or other non-job related characteristics or other prohibited grounds specified in applicable federal, state and local laws.

Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States. If you are legally authorized to work in the United States now, or in the future without any form of sponsorship, we encourage you to apply.