Senior Scientist, Media Development

About us

At the forefront of farming and food, UPSIDE Foods is innovating new ways to produce real meat, without the need to breed, feed, and slaughter animals. Our process begins with an animal cell, which is cultivated and harvested as meat. UPSIDE Foods is a mission-driven company focused on bringing to meat lovers an authentic product that is truly humane, sustainably produced, nutritious, and delicious! We are now expanding our team of dedicated professionals across disciplines to make better meat for a better world.

About this job

The R&D Sr. Scientist (media development) will be responsible for leading projects, developing and running experimental designs to develop cell culture media formulations. The Sr. Scientist will analyze, interpret data, and communicate results to drive research forward.

Duties include

• Leads projects for developing cell culture media (mammalian, avian, teleost, etc.)   
• Mammalian and avian cell/tissue culture techniques including thawing, subculturing, freezing, and single-cell cloning
• Proficient data collection, analysis, and interpretation 
• Plans further experiments based on data and objectives
• Works across traditional and high throughput cell culture platforms at multiple scales
• Develops new procedures for relevant areas
• Mentor and supervise others in areas of expertise

About you

• Ph.D. in cell biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, bioengineering or closely related science with 5+ of research and development experience in the biopharmaceutical, or similar industry; or strong BS/MS candidates with 10+(BS) or 8+(MS) years of research and development experience in the biopharmaceutical, cell therapy, or similar industry are also encouraged to apply
• Industrial cell culture media development experience with strong experience in adherent media development 
• Strong background in mechanistic media design including nutritional biochemistry and metabolic pathway expertise
• Tissue engineering, cell therapy, and muscle biology backgrounds are highly desirable
• Competent with Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and statistical software like JMP, Minitab, Simca, etc.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced and cross-functional environment
• Comfortable developing scientific knowledge base by learning new methods from peers, seminars and scientific literature
• Fosters a team environment, collaborating scientifically with direct team members as well as scientists in other departments. Open to new ideas and often seeks critical feedback from colleagues and demonstrates effective cooperation.
• Maintains laboratory notebooks with detailed experimental designs and results. 
• Prepares written project reports and presents oral updates/summaries at team meetings.
• Develop and nurture internal and external relationships with key colleagues, collaborators and vendors
• Actively engage external scientists and internal customers in research collaborations where appropriate
• Maintain scientific scholarship through internal and external networking and frequent literature reviews 

Desirable skills

• Working knowledge of statistical design of experiment techniques (DOE)
• Mammalian and/or avian cell culture and recombinant protein expression. e.g.  generation of stable cell lines expressing relevant levels of a r-protein
• Experience with protein analysis methods (i.e, Western blot, FACS and immunocytochemistry)
• Standard molecular biology techniques including molecular cloning, transfection, genomic and plasmid DNA purification, RNA isolation, PCR and RT-PCR/ddPCR and the ability to design basic and engineered recombinant protein expression constructs