Scientist, Genome Engineering

Colossal is looking for a talent Scientist that will take on ambitious synthetic biology projects and large-scale genome engineering for species conservation and de-extinction. The Scientist will be building tools and methodologies for engineering various cell types and will develop workflows to manipulate large DNA fragments and genomes. This position reports to the Head of Large Mammals.

This position is based on-site in Dallas, TX. Relocation assistance is available.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Design, innovate and iterate: DNA assembly, integration, editing and screening
• Build enabling molecular and cellular tools
• Optimize gene-editing cargo delivery
• Quantify genome editing events using various molecular assays
• Improve the state of the art in CRISPR-guided precision genome editing
• Data analysis, figure generation and timely reporting of results
• Present findings at small forums and R&D meetings
• Maintain a thorough and detailed electronic lab notebook
• Maintain a clean and organized laboratory space

Required Skills and Abilities:

• Solid understanding and hands-on experience with precision editing techniques, covering the design, optimization and verification of edits made with CRISPR-Cas9, HDR, Base Editors, Prime Editors and large construct integration methods
• Experience with recombinant DNA cloning techniques, bacterial purification, primer design and PCR, gel electrophoresis, nucleic acid purification and characterization
• Comfortable with protein characterization methods and flow-cytometry
• Experience with cell culture and delivery of DNA/RNA/RNP for gene-editing 
• Self-motivated, proactive, works well under pressure and deadlines, detail-oriented
• Enthusiasm for learning new skills and taking on new responsibilities
• Creative problem-solving skills
• Communicate clearly both written and orally, so others can understand.

Preferred Experience:

• High throughput screening or automation methods, especially in designing and constructing libraries and/or arrays to perform multiplexed screening experiments, such as massively parallel reporter assays (MPRA) or CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) 
• Comfortable in handling large data sets and using bioinformatic tools in standard data formats (e.g., FASTA, FASTQ, BAM, VCF, GTF/GFF)
• Experience with precision editing include software and tools design (e.g., crisprVerse, CRIS.py, PrimeDesign) or predictive machine learning models for optimizing editing constructs (e.g., DeepCRISPR, CRISPRpred, PRIDICT) 
• Bulk and single-cell RNA prep and sequence analyses
• Stem cell derivation, culture and characterization

Required Education and Experience:

• MS/PhD in synthetic biology, bioengineering, molecular biology, genetics or related field such as developmental biology or immunology
• 3+ years hands-on expertise in genetics and genomic manipulation