Sr. Research Associate, Yeast Expression and VLP Production

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• Role: Science / Biotechnology
• Experience: 3+ years
• Visa: US citizenship/visa not required

We are seeking a hands-on research associate to produce engineered VLPs in yeast and build production, purification, QC, and stability workflows.

You will help build Molagri’s yeast VLP production workflows. This role will focus on expressing engineered VLPs in yeast, improving yield and recovery, purifying particles, running routine QC, and screening storage conditions that preserve particle integrity and payload quality.

You will work closely with our virology and protein biochemistry teams to produce purified VLP material for characterization, insect-cell assays, and insect bioassays.

You will:

• Engineer strains of yeast to accommodate efficient cell growth and VLP yields at manufacturing scale.
• Work closely with viral and biochemistry teams to genetically modify yeast strains to test new VLP variants in a timely manner.
• Transform yeast with VLP expression constructs and screen clones for their expression, yield, and particle quality.
• Produce VLPs in shake flasks and small-scale bioreactors.
• Test and optimize production conditions such as growth media, induction strategy, temperature, harvest time, and other process variables.
• Run harvest, lysis or clarification, purification, buffer-exchange, and concentration workflows.
• Run routine QC assays for expression, particle assembly, purity, aggregation, RNA packaging, and RNA integrity.
• Support stability screens across pH, salt, excipients, temperature, freeze-thaw, and storage conditions.
• Troubleshoot low-yield expression, poor recovery, particle instability, aggregation, RNA loss, and inconsistent QC results.