Scientist - Ultrasound-Mediated Gene Delivery

Merge Labs

$90K — $130K *
Pharmaceuticals & Biotech
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Ph.D. or equivalent experience in bioengineering, neuroscience, or related fields.
  • Hands-on experience using focused ultrasound (FUS) for gene delivery to the brain.
  • Proven expertise in developing and optimizing gene delivery methods.
  • Experience in evaluating gene delivery in brain tissues.
  • Background in tuning ultrasound parameters for specific expression outcomes.
  • Enjoyment in solving complex delivery-related problems.
  • Strong communicator and collaborator in multidisciplinary environments.

Responsibilities

  • Develop preclinical gene delivery methodologies using focused ultrasound (FUS).
  • Optimize ultrasound parameters for delivery vehicles to enhance efficacy and safety.
  • Collaborate with teams to create assays for quantifying gene delivery metrics.
  • Design and conduct in vivo experiments, iterating based on gathered data.
  • Assess emerging delivery technologies to influence future strategies.

Benefits

  • Collaborative work environment with multidisciplinary teams.
  • Opportunity to work on cutting-edge scientific and technical problems.
  • Potential to contribute to impactful research leading to clinical applications.
Full Job Description


About the role

As a Scientist in the Delivery team, you will engineer and validate gene delivery approaches to enable the expression and function of novel molecular biosensors and actuators of neural activity in preclinical models. Your work will serve as the critical bridge between molecular engineering and in vivo functionality and enable the ultimate clinical translation of molecular BCI. You will optimize the design of experimental conditions for focused ultrasound (FUS)-mediated delivery as a spatially targeted, non-invasive route to the brain, tuning acoustic parameters against the delivery vehicles best matched to it. You will collaborate closely with protein engineers, cell and synthetic biologists, machine learning engineers, physicists and neurobiologists.

In this role, you will:
  • Develop preclinical gene delivery approaches using focused ultrasound paired with viral and non-viral delivery technologies.
  • Systematically optimize focused ultrasound parameters against each delivery vehicle to maximize expression, spatial precision, and safety.
  • Collaborate with teams building the assays and readouts needed to quantify delivery, expression, and tolerability in brain tissue.
  • Design, run, and interpret in vivo experiments, iterating rapidly from data to the next round of optimization.
  • Evaluate emerging delivery technologies and help shape the team's longer-term delivery strategy.


You might thrive in this role if you have:
  • A Ph.D. or equivalent experience leading research projects end-to-end in bioengineering, neuroscience, cell biology, molecular biology or a related field.
  • Prior hands-on experience using focused ultrasound (FUS) to deliver genes to the brain in preclinical models.
  • Demonstrated expertise in developing or optimizing gene delivery modalities.
  • Developed and used methods to evaluate gene delivery and expression in brain tissues.
  • Optimized focused ultrasound parameters to achieve specific expression goals.
  • Worked on a delivery-related problem that is unusual or complex and loved it.
  • Fun working on multidisciplinary teams, collaborating and communicating with experts across disciplines.
  • The desire to be part of a fast-paced team working on frontier scientific and technical problems.


Nice to have:
  • Expertise in non-viral delivery modalities.
  • Experience sourcing, evaluating, or in-licensing delivery technologies through external collaboration.
  • Experience working with large animal models.

If you're excited about this role but don't meet every qualification, please apply. As we build, we're hiring for complementary strengths to form a high-impact team.

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