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Scientist, Cell Biology & Antibody Engineering

Medra· Science
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San Francisco$140k - $175kFull-timePosted 5mo ago

About the role

Scientist to develop and execute antibody screening and characterization on the Medra Physical AI platform, support tissue culture operations, design and run in vitro and cell-based assays, and help build scalable lab capabilities and autonomous workflows.

Responsibilities

  • Design, execute, and interpret antibody screening and characterization campaigns across the full funnel — from high-throughput primary hit triage through orthogonal confirmation
  • Develop and run cell-based binding and functional assays using flow cytometry to characterize antibodies, VHHs, and other binder formats
  • Run biophysical characterization on antibody candidates — including SPR and BLI for affinity and kinetics, and epitope binning — and interpret results to inform go/no-go
  • Execute developability assays to assess manufacturability and liability risks early — including thermal stability (DSF/DSC), aggregation and monomericity (HPLC-SEC), hydrophobicity (HPLC-HIC), polyspecificity/non-specific binding, and expression titer — and help triage candidates based on integrated characterization data
  • Maintain and engineer mammalian cell lines (e.g., Expi293, ExpiCHO, HEK293, CHO) and establish cell-based characterization and functional assays
  • Build out new lab capabilities end-to-end: scope the need, evaluate technologies, qualify instruments, write SOPs, and prepare validated workflows for autonomous execution
  • Partner with roboticists and software engineers to translate manual assay workflows into reliable, high-throughput autonomous protocols on the Medra platform
  • Maintain rigorous experimental records in electronic lab notebooks (ELN) and communicate results clearly to internal and external stakeholders

Qualifications

  • Ph.D. in cell biology, immunology, biochemistry, or a related discipline with 2+ years of industry experience, or a B.S./M.S. with 6+ years of deep, hands-on industry experience
  • Strong background in mammalian cell culture and sterile technique, with a track record of maintaining healthy, reproducible cell lines for assay work
  • Deep hands-on expertise in flow cytometry, including high-throughput formats and panel design
  • Demonstrated experience designing and executing cell-based functional assays for antibody characterization (binding, potency, mechanism-of-action, or similar)
  • Working understanding of antibody structure, function, and the therapeutic antibody discovery process
  • Comfort establishing target-overexpressing cell lines and evaluating/implementing new assay technologies
  • Strong documentation habits, attention to detail, and the ability to drive multiple workstreams in parallel
  • A scrappy, can-do attitude — you figure things out and get things done

Skills

Required:Antibody screening & characterizationCell-based assays (flow cytometry)Biophysical characterization (SPR, BLI)Developability assessmentMammalian cell culture

Benefits

  • An opportunity to fundamentally change the way that scientific research happens
  • Fast-paced, creative, and collaborative work environment
  • Significant equity ownership
  • 401k
  • Medical insurance and dental Insurance
  • Unlimited PTO
  • Weekday lunches and dinners
Last updated Aug 5, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Medra

Hand over lab work

Scientists automate protocols with Medra’s autonomous robotic system.

BiochemistryCell BiologyGenomicsHistologyMicrobial discoveryAIRobotics
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