Research Associate: Adipogenesis

About Wildtype

Wildtype is on a mission to create the cleanest, most sustainable seafood on the planet, starting with sushi-grade salmon. We’re pioneering cellular agriculture to protect wild species and our oceans, and to reverse trends of global food insecurity. Wildtype will provide consumers with a new option for real seafood that provides the same nutritional benefits as the most pristine wild-caught fish, without common contaminants such as mercury, microplastics, antibiotics, or pesticides.

We were founded in 2016 by Aryé Elfenbein, a cardiologist and molecular biologist, and Justin Kolbeck (CEO), a former US diplomat who served in Pakistan and Afghanistan, in an effort to solve one of the world’s biggest problems: how to feed a growing population without stripping the earth of its natural resources and biodiversity. Investors include L Catterton, Jeff Bezos, Spark Capital, CRV, Temasek, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Robert Downey Jr.’s Footprint Coalition, among others.

Come join us in transforming our food system for good!

What you will own at Wildtype

• Establish new marine species cell lines for adipocyte differentiation
• Optimize culture conditions to maximize lipid uptake by marine cell lines
• Improve differentiation efficiency in 2D and 3D cultures
• Interpret experiment results and recommend new conditions to test
• Carry out protocols in various cell culture vessels
• Perform experiments to systematically improve culture efficiency and yield at bench scale

What you bring to Wildtype

• A background in cell biology
• Experience with tissue culture and aseptic technique. Accuracy and consistency in your results
• Ability to adjust to new protocols, and troubleshoot/refine conditions

What we’ll teach you

• What it is like to work at the cutting edge of cellular agriculture, within a team of talented, motivated, and inspiring crewmates
• Our current cell culture processes
• How to keep your focus in a dynamic and fast-paced environment

Impact plan

• Within 1 month you will have learned Wildtype’s preadipocyte cell line establishment and adipocyte differentiation methodologies
• Within 3 months you will have set your professional development goals for the next 2 years. You will have carried out experiments to improve lipid uptake efficiency and to increase adipocyte differentiation efficiency
• Within 6 months you will have helped our group gather enough data to narrow differentiation parameters to focus on in the next round of experiments. You will also have become familiar with our cell line establishment/development efforts.
• Within 12 months you will have helped establish new preadipocyte cell lines and refined our adipocyte differentiation protocols. You will have started designing and executing your own experiments.

The hiring range for this position is $70,000 - $92,000, plus 90th percentile equity.

Location: this is an onsite role based in San Francisco.

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Wildtype is committed to building a diverse workplace spanning multiple dimensions including race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity, and veteran status