Research and Development Associate jobs in Brookline, MA

Parallel Squared Technology Institute (PTI) is a non-profit research institute aiming to catalyze a leap in protein analysis technology and use it to explore new biological frontiers. PTI supports open research and educational opportunities supporting rapid career development for scientists, engineers, and mathematicians.

Why? Protein dysfunctions directly cause many diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Yet, proteins remain understudied because of technological hurdles.

How? To resolve these limitations, PTI will develop mass tags enabling a new framework for multiplexed protein analysis by mass spectrometry towards achieving 100-fold increase in throughput. Scientists at and collaborating with the institute will use these gains to directly investigate disease mechanisms and resolve problems that have proven intractable for decades. Our proof of principle technology and strategies are outlined at: parallelsq.org.

New career opportunities

Members of PTI will be supported with industry-level resources to lead research projects and disseminate their discoveries and innovations to the broader biomedical community through frequent publications, presentations, and submissions to public data portals.  

Summary of Position

We are looking for a research associate with immunology experience who will be performing immunology-based experiments for downstream mass spectrometry analyses. The successful candidate will work in a team environment and contribute to the Immuno-Proteome Aging project at PTI. In order to be seriously considered for this position, we require a cover letter as part of the candidate’s application.

• Collaborate across a multi-disciplinary team to design, optimize, and validate immune-cell-based assays.
• Prepare and analyze human and murine immune cells and responses through co-culture, metabolic assays, and antigen-specific experiments.
• Prepare clinical samples for mass spectrometry analysis.
• Help establish rigorous sample processing workflows and data analysis pipelines to minimize non-biological variations.
• Develop, execute, adapt, and troubleshoot standard protocols.
• Independently perform experiments as well as analyze, interpret, and present data for internal and public presentation.
• Faithfully and accurately document scientific work and contribute to reports and presentations.

• BS degree with at least 3 years of experience or MS degree in biology, immunology, life science, biomedical science, or a closely related field.
• Experience with safe lab practices and handling human biological material, especially leukopaks.
• Strong cell culture and aseptic techniques, as well as experience with primary human immune cell culture and stimulation.
• Experience with immunoassays, multi-color flow cytometry, and cell sorting.
• Independent, flexible, enthusiastic, attention to detail, and good time management.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to work well with others in a multi-disciplinary team.

• Familiarity with statistical & computational methods.
• Familiarity with mass spectrometry.

• An opportunity to change the world and work with some of the smartest and the most talented experts from different fields.
• Tuition reimbursement.
• Excellent medical, dental, and vision insurance through a PPO plan; parental leave; wellness allowance.
• Generous time off paid holidays.

We aim to help fill a structural gap in today's R&D system. We enable fundamental research that requires unusual levels of scale and coordination yet is not rapidly monetizable by industry. We’re bringing together top talent from academia, industry, and startups to build a new model for innovative R&D. As an incubator within the Schmidt Futures Network, we identify high-impact scientific or technical research and development opportunities, ultimately defining and launching these projects as Focused Research Organizations.

We are an Equal Employment Opportunity employer that proudly pursues and hires a diverse workforce. We do not make hiring or employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion or religious belief, ethnic or national origin, nationality, sex, gender, gender-identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local, state, or federal law or company policy. We strive for a healthy and safe workplace and strictly prohibit harassment of any kind.