Company Summary:

Laronde is an early-stage biotechnology company with the mission to become the leader in the development of nucleic acid medicines by leveraging its multi-modality eRNA platform. Our modular Endless RNA™ (eRNA) platform, will be supported by a large-scale digital and manufacturing infrastructure with the bold vision of 100 new medicines within the next decade. With eRNA, we’re making new therapeutics that will become essential medicines of the future to address unmet needs across multiple disease areas. Check out www.laronde.bio for more information on our vision.

Laronde was founded by Flagship Pioneering, a team of entrepreneurial scientists that conceives, creates, resources and grows first-in-category life sciences companies. Since 2000, Flagship has created over 100 groundbreaking companies pioneering novel and proprietary biological, industrial and engineering approaches to solve major needs in human health and sustainability. These companies include Moderna Therapeutics (MRNA), Seres Therapeutics (MCRB), Syros Pharmaceuticals (SYRS), Rubius Therapeutics (RUBY), Evelo Biosciences (EVLO), Kaleido Biosciences (KLDO) and Indigo Agriculture.

Position Summary:

Laronde is seeking a creative, motivated Senior Research Associate to join a team of scientists to establish and develop the scale-up process for IND enabling studies and clinical supplies. In this role you will assist in scaling up enzymatic reactions for eRNA to produce drug substance of appropriate quality attributes. The candidate will interface with the operational, analytical and platform development teams to enable collaborative solutions.  We are searching for driven, enthusiastic and self-motivated individuals who are comfortable multitasking and working independently on various aspects of the platform.

Key Responsibilities:

• Assist with experimental design and execution of different upstream unit operations including bag reactors, membrane separation, and affinity chromatography if applicable.
• Execute the experimental plan and interpret the results with minimal guidance.
• Perform enzymatic reactions in scaled-down models.
• Assess impurity profile generated in enzymatic reactions in collaboration with the analytical development team
• Troubleshoot lab workflows and maintain lab equipment.
• Provide high quality results and maintain high quality documentation in electronic lab notebooks.
• Draft protocols and prepare reports and presentations that support drug substance and drug product clinical development.
• Troubleshoot lab workflows, maintain equipment and support IND enabling manufacturing batches
• Collaborate effectively across development, analytical and scale-out teams to drive scientific initiatives. 

Required Qualifications:

• BS/MS or equivalent in chemical engineering, biochemistry, chemistry, biology or related field
•  3 or more years industry experience
• Strong technical understanding and experience with synthesis of nucleic acids or cell culture for biologic production is required. 
• Track record of planning experiments/projects and completing deliverables within specified timelines.
• Eager to work with highly skilled and dynamic teams in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial and technical environment

Preferred Qualifications:

• Prior experience with therapeutic upstream process development 
• Hands on experience using wave bag reactors, TFFs, and affinity separations 
• Experience and/or understanding in nucleic acid chemistry, enzymatic reactions, PCR, plasmid processing and standard analytical techniques such as CGE 
• Experience with cell culture and analytical assays