Scientist / Senior Scientist, Molecular and Cellular Biology

Scientist / Senior Scientist, Molecular and Cellular Biology

• Full-time position
• Competitive compensation (Salary, Benefits & Options)
• 430 E 29th Street, New York

Waypoint Bio is a biotech startup building the next generation of cell therapies for solid tumors. Traditional cell therapy preclinical development faces a trade-off between in vitro approaches that are fast but inaccurate, and in vivo approaches that are accurate but slow and expensive. Using our proprietary platform combining spatial biology, pooled screening, in silico protein engineering, and machine learning, we can obtain both depth and breadth when screening cell therapy candidates – speed without compromising on in vivo accuracy. Our team is highly collaborative, interdisciplinary, and shares the mission of developing novel immune cell therapies to benefit patients' lives.

Position Summary:

We are seeking a highly motivated, creative scientist who thrives in a fast-paced and collaborative environment. The ideal candidate will have extensive expertise in synthetic biology, molecular, and cell biology and will contribute to projects spanning genetic engineering, cell-based assays, and pooled screening. Their primary tasks will be to apply their knowledge of molecular and cell biology to design novel T cell therapies, manufacture these cell therapies, and test their function using cell-based assays. Top candidates will also have deep knowledge of synthetic biology, immunology, or cell therapy, and will be able to apply this to Waypoint’s spatial pooled screening technology in a variety of in vitro systems. At Waypoint, you will work collaboratively with our team of computational and wet-lab scientists to develop new therapeutic options to treat solid tumors.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Design, execute, and troubleshoot molecular biology workflows involved in cell therapy design/testing, including cloning and genome engineering.
• Develop, optimize, and run cell-based assays, contributing to pipeline programs and platform development .
• Engineer and characterize cell therapies and synthetic biology constructs using cutting-edge tools and assays.
• Contribute to high-throughput screening approaches, including pooled or arrayed formats, for discovery and validation efforts.
• Develop and evaluate delivery strategies for genetic cargo across diverse biological systems.
• Actively engage in prioritizing key milestones and developing appropriate timelines.
• Provide conceptual input on in vivo experimental design and interpretation in a team setting.
• Keep detailed scientific records in an electronic lab notebook and actively contribute towards the organization of the lab.

Required Qualifications

While prior T cell experience is preferred, we also encourage applications from candidates with strong molecular biology experience in non-mammalian systems (e.g. non-mammalian model organisms).

• Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Immunology, or Cancer Biology, or a related field. Alternatively, Bachelor’s degree or Master’s degree with 6 years or 4 years of relevant experience, respectively.
• High degree of expertise in molecular biology (e.g. Gibson cloning), genetic manipulations (e.g. CRISPR, lentivirus, etc.), RNA/DNA purification, and preparation of NGS libraries.
• An excellent scientific track record with published papers or recent experience in the field of molecular biology, genomics, cell biology, immunology, or related fields.
• Superb organizational abilities and precise scientific record keeping in electronic lab notebooks.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience culturing T cells ex vivo and using these cells for downstream assays.
• Practical knowledge of the immune cell therapy field, with a focus on T cell therapy.
• Knowledge of the interplay between the immune system and the tumor microenvironment.

Send CV and cover letter to apply:

jobs@waypointbio.com