Sr. Scientist, Strain Engineering

~ ZymoChem is a synthetic biology start-up that is genetically engineering microbes to produce chemicals. Our mission is to reshape the chemical industry by developing eco-friendly processes for producing chemicals that go into making every day products such as plastics, fragrances, and fabrics. ~

By engineering biosynthetic pathways not found in nature, ZymoChem is re-imagining the microbe, one that minimizes/eliminates carbon loss as carbon dioxide during fermentation.

Specifically, ZymoChem's "carbon conserving" microbes direct all carbon to chemical production, delivering up to a 50% increase in fermentation yields over state-of-the-art technologies. This improvement in efficiency gives ZymoChem's bioprocesses a breakthrough cost-advantage over petroleum-based production of these chemicals, even at today's oil prices.

Leading ZymoChem is a world-class team of scientists & engineers who have raised funding from the US Department of Energy, the US Department of Agriculture, IndieBio, and Breakout Labs. We are actively seeking highly motivated and productive researchers to join us in Berkeley, California to develop ZymoChem's technology for transforming the renewable chemicals industry.

Position Overview

ZymoChem is seeking a highly-motivated Scientist / Senior Scientist to immediately join and lead our company's strain construction and pathway engineering efforts. As a member of our dynamic & cohesive team, you will have an opportunity to build a game-changing platform technology from the ground up.

This scientist position requires an entrepreneurial-level initiative, the ability to demonstrate scientific leadership, and a strong work ethic with the capability to prioritize & efficiently multi-task on a daily basis. An adept ability to effectively communicate and work with a team in a fast-paced environment is crucial, and the desire & skills to manage other researchers is also a prerequisite.

This position is for a full-time appointment with benefits including medical, dental, and vision.  

Responsibilities 

Primary responsibilities for this position will include: 

• Designing, building, and executing high-throughput strain construction workflows with knock-out, knock-in, and mutagenesis capabilities; and
• Characterizing and optimizing non-native biosynthetic pathways
• Additional tasks will involve DNA design & construction, protein expression & purification, and working with analytics such as HPLC and LC/MS 

Qualifications  

Requirements: 

• PhD in bioengineering, chemical engineering, biochemistry, molecular biology, or a related discipline
• Proven expertise with engineering E. coli is strongly preferred; additional experience with other industrially-relevant prokaryotes and/or eukaryotes is a plus
• Excellence in state-of-the-art genome engineering & strain construction techniques such as CRISPR/Cas9, MAGE, homologous recombination, and P1 phage transduction
• Experience with building, testing, and optimizing heterologous metabolic pathways for the production of chemicals 

Technical experiences and in-depth knowledge with the following: 

• Bioinformatics & other computational tools related to strain engineering, metabolic modeling, and pathway design & construction
• Designing and establishing successful high-throughput systems & methodologies
• -Omics techniques for analyzing/optimizing metabolic pathway flux
• Microbial physiology, anaerobic growth, central metabolism, small molecule transport, and product toxicity
• Bench-scale fermentations and analytics for detecting & quantifying small molecules
• Design of experimentation

Other desired qualities & experiences include: 

• Track record of supervising other scientists and/or research associates
• Past work in an industrial setting or startup environment
• Experience with writing successful grant proposals
• Relevant publication record and achievements 

To Apply 

• If this position aligns with your career aspirations, please click below: "Apply Now Online!" to email your resume/CV and a cover letter.
• Be sure to indicate: "Application for Strain Engineering Scientist Position" in the subject line. 

~ ZymoChem is an equal opportunity employer ~