Scientist - Computational Biophysics (CURRENTLY NOT ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS)
Astera Institute· Radial
Emeryville HQ$100k - $180kFull-timePosted 3mo ago
About the role
Scientist role focusing on building ensemble-aware protein representations, integrating PLM/LLM embeddings with experimental structural heterogeneity to enable functional prediction within Prism (Astera’s open infrastructure for studying protein dynamics).
Responsibilities
- Build ensemble-aware protein representations that integrate PLM and LLM embeddings with experimentally derived structural heterogeneity for functional prediction
- Design, develop, and maintain large-scale bioinformatic pipelines capable of processing and managing complex, high-dimensional datasets
- Fine-tune or architect ML models to capture sequence-structure-function relationships, with a focus on dynamic and conformational features
- Synthesize diverse data sources spanning evolutionary history, binding affinity, allostery, and functional annotations to improve model performance and biological relevance
- Collaborate closely with experimental partners to ground computational representations in real biological measurements and ensure models are continuously refined against experimental ground truth
- Contribute to the broader Prism infrastructure, helping establish community-wide standards and tools for dynamic structural biology
Qualifications
- PhD in bioinformatics, computational biology, machine learning, or a related field
- Strong understanding of protein structure and function
- Demonstrated experience building large bioinformatic pipelines and managing high-dimensional datasets
- Proficiency in fine-tuning or modifying ML models (e.g., transformer-based architectures)
- Familiarity with protein language models (ESM, AlphaFold, etc.) is a plus
- Collaborative, team-oriented mindset with the ability to drive research questions from conception to execution
Skills
Required:Protein representationsBioinformatics pipelinesMachine learning model fine-tuning
Nice to have:Protein language models
Benefits
- Benefits summary (link provided in job description)
Last updated Oct 1, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
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