Position Purpose:

• To purpose of this position is to join our team of R&D biologists with the aim or serving our clients across a broad range of synthetic biology, human forensic, public health, and microbial detection research and development programs. The successful candidate will support a multidisciplinary team of biologists, biochemists, microbiologists, and bioinformaticians.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Perform tasks on various research and development activities to include human forensics, microbial forensics, synthetic biology.
• Operate NGS platforms for internal and external research programs. This includes analysis of human DNA, other eukaryotic genomes, microbial/viral genomes, as well as metagenomic samples.
• Support projects through employing efficient and accurate data evaluation techniques, placing levels of statistical confidence on data output, and clearly reporting results.
• Help grow the chemical and biological sciences business areas through the successful and timely execution of projects, positive interactions with clients, recognition of opportunities for follow-on work with existing clients, establishment of new opportunities with alternate clients, proposal development and writing support, and internal research and development.
• Be motivated to contribute in a team environment, collaborate across multiple scientific and technical disciplines, and be excited to develop new skills.
• Have the flexibility to balance multiple on-going tasks while operating efficiently with minimal supervision.
• Travel to project and business development meetings as needed.

Required Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Must have demonstrated experience performing molecular biological techniques to include nucleic acid extraction, PCR, next generation sequencing (NGS) library preparation, NGS data analysis, and protein purification and analysis (e.g., electrophoresis, ELISA, western blot).
• Strong candidates will have experience designing PCR primers for molecular cloning or detection assays.
• Experience relating to human DNA forensics is a plus.
• Experience with next generation sequencing platforms (Illumina, Pac Bio, ONT) is a plus.
• May have experience operating typical NGS data analysis tools, including read trimming/QC, alignment, variant analysis, etc.
• At least basic knowledge or use of statistical analysis tools including excel, R, or matlab.
• Must be able to effectively communicate technical results, findings, or troubleshooting strategies. This includes the presentation of results and effective experimental planning to account for required statistical power.
• Must be able to do extended deskwork at a computer.
• Must be able to stand for several hours at a time to perform lab work.
• Must be able to wear standard PPE (e.g., mask, gloves, lab coat) for extended periods of time.

Education/Experience:

Batchelor's degree in relevant scientific discipline (e.g., biology, molecular biology, microbiology, bioinformatics) required. Additional work experience in a laboratory setting performing relevant activities preferred.

Certificates and Licenses:

N/A

Clearance:

This position requires that the candidate be willing and able to complete a successful background screening for a security clearance.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

N/A

Working Conditions/ Equipment:

This position requires work in a laboratory environment that may require wearing PPE and standing for extended periods of time. Will also be required to enter data and write reports by typing on a computer. Must be willing and able to lift light loads (e.g., 25 lbs) and travel via commercial airline as needed to attend conferences or business meetings.

The above job description is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position. Incumbents will follow any other instructions, and perform any other related duties, as assigned by their supervisor.