Scientist, Virtual Cell Initiative - Single Cell Screening

About Arc Institute

The Arc Institute is a new scientific institution conducting curiosity-driven basic science and technology development to understand and treat complex human diseases. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Arc is an independent research organization founded on the belief that many important research programs will be enabled by new institutional models. Arc operates in partnership with Stanford University, UCSF, and UC Berkeley.

While the prevailing university research model has yielded many tremendous successes, we believe in the importance of institutional experimentation as a way to make progress. These include:

• Funding: Arc fully funds Core Investigators’ (PIs’) research groups, liberating scientists from the typical constraints of project-based external grants.
• Technology: Biomedical research has become increasingly dependent on complex tooling. Arc Technology Centers develop, optimize, and deploy rapidly advancing experimental and computational technologies in collaboration with Core Investigators. 
• Support: Arc aims to provide first-class support—operationally, financially, and scientifically—that will enable scientists to pursue long-term high risk, high reward research that can meaningfully advance progress in disease cures, including neurodegeneration, cancer, and immune dysfunction.
• Culture: We believe that culture matters enormously in science and that excellence is difficult to sustain. We aim to create a culture that is focused on scientific curiosity, a deep commitment to truth, broad ambition, and selfless collaboration.

Arc has scaled to nearly 200 people. With $650M+ in committed funding and a state of the art new lab facility in Palo Alto, Arc will continue to grow quickly in the coming years.

About the position

We are seeking a highly motivated and independent single-cell technologist and inventor to join Paul Datlinger's group within the Genome Engineering Tech Center at Arc. As a key member of Arc's Virtual Cell Initiative, you will work at the forefront of building a virtual model of the cell to identify therapeutic interventions for human diseases. You will join a team with a track record of foundational contributions in the field, including some of the first studies of mammalian CRISPR genome engineering (CRISPRi, a, ko, Cas13), single-cell functional genomics (CROP-seq), and DNA foundation modeling (Evo).

You will collaborate closely with our AI team to iterate rapidly between data production and training. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to develop the single-cell profiling platform of the future and lead the generation of single-cell CRISPR screening datasets for Arc's Virtual Cell Initiative. This is a unique opportunity for a creative scientist to make a significant contribution at the intersection of biology and AI. If you’re ready to shape the foundation of the Virtual Cell Initiative, we invite you to apply for this exciting role.

About you

• You are creative, passionate and want to push the boundaries of single-cell genomics
• You are excited about AI in biology and inventing new technologies, such as building a virtual cell model
• You’re not afraid to challenge the status quo through disruptive technology development
• You like a challenge, and can systematically analyze and solve hard technological problems
• You bring people together and thrive in a multidisciplinary environment. You can communicate effectively with a diverse team of biotechnologists and AI scientists and bridge the gap between these disciplines
• You are an engaging speaker and enjoy presenting at international conferences

In this position you will

• Make key contributions to Arc’s Virtual Cell Initiative to build an AI model of the cell
• Invent the single-cell screening platform of the future, scaling to millions of cells per experiment
• Perform single-cell CRISPR screens in diverse cell lines and in cell villages
• Collaborate closely with Arc’s AI team to iterate between data generation and model training
• Prepare large dataset releases and accompanying publications, and present at international conferences
• Manage multidisciplinary collaborations with internal groups and external biotech partners

Requirements

• PhD in Molecular Biology, Genomics, Biochemistry, or a similar field. Post-PhD experience is a plus
• Proven record of innovative technology development in single-cell genomics, documented through publications, preprints or patents
• Experience with single-cell RNA-seq on the 10x Genomics platform (Flex, 5’ or 3’)
• Deep understanding of existing single-cell profiling approaches and their strengths and limitations
• Experience with pooled or single-cell CRISPR screens
• Cloning of plasmid constructs
• Extensive cell culture and cell engineering experience, including lentivirus production and stable cell line generation
• Experience with flow cytometry and cell sorting
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to accurately document data, experiments, and projects
• Strong time management skills with the ability to manage your own workflow independently

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with single-cell profiling by combinatorial indexing (Parse, Scale) or templated emulsification (Fluent) is a strong plus
• Ability to analyze NGS, CRISPR screening, or single-cell data in R or Python is a strong plus
• Familiarity with deep learning concepts for AI in biology is a strong plus
• Experience with cloning of large sequencing libraries is a plus
• Experience with multi-omics single-cell profiling (e.g. CITE-seq, scATAC-seq) is a plus
• Experience with primary cell engineering is a plus
• Experience with in vivo mouse work is a plus

The base salary range for this position is $121,500 to $134,750. These amounts reflect the range of base salary that the Institute reasonably would expect to pay a new hire or internal candidate for this position. The actual base compensation paid to any individual for this position may vary depending on factors such as experience, market conditions, education/training, skill level, and whether the compensation is internally equitable, and does not include bonuses, commissions, differential pay, other forms of compensation, or benefits. This position is also eligible to receive an annual discretionary bonus, with the amount dependent on individual and institute performance factors.