Research Associate: Bench Scale Process Development

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

• Optimize upstream cell culture processes for novel marine species
• Carry out protocols for various types of cell culture vessels
• Perform experiments to systematically improve culture efficiency and yield at bench scale
• Interpret experiment results and recommend new conditions to test

What you bring to the table

• Education in bioprocess engineering, biochemical engineering, mechanical engineering, cell biology or biochemistry
• Reliable hands
• Experience with bench scale bioreactors
• Ability to adjust to new protocols, and troubleshoot/refine conditions

What we’ll teach you

• What it is like to work in a super talented startup group, where we challenge/inspire each other to do better for the collective good of the company
• Our current suspension culture process, for you to build on
• How to keep your focus in an ever-changing environment

Impact plan

• Within 1 month you will have learned Wildtype’s current suspension culture process.
• Within 3 months you will have set your professional development goals for the next 2 years. You will have carried out a few experiments to improve our bench scale process for the purpose of increasing cell culture efficiency and yield.
• Within 6 months you will have helped our group gathered enough data to narrow down on the process parameters to focus on in the next round of experiments.  You will also have been exposed to our new cell line establishment/development efforts.  Depending on your professional development goals, you will have started investing some time into training others on process development.
• Within 12 months you will have helped establish new bench scale processes for suspension culture of our workhorse cell lines to improve yield. You will also start designing 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.

To learn more about Wildtype and see our newest updates, check out our blog!

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.