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Scientist, Laboratory Automation

Employer
LanzaTech, Inc
Location
Skokie, Illinois, US
Salary
Competitive
Closing date
Jun 11, 2021

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Sector
Consultancy/Private Sector
Field
Informatics / GIS
Discipline
Climate Change
Salary Type
Salary
Employment Type
Full time
Mission-driven LanzaTech is a revolutionary solution to climate change, capturing pollution to clean our skies and oceans and create new high value products for a sustainable future. LanzaTech captures pollution to make fuels and chemicals, including sustainable jet fuel and products you use every day. The technology is like retrofitting a brewery onto an emission source like a steel mill or a landfill site, but instead of using sugars and yeast to make beer, pollution is converted by biology to fuels and chemicals! Imagine a day when your plane is powered by recycled emissions, when your yoga pants started life as pollution from a steel mill. This future is possible using LanzaTech technology.
  • 2021 Biofuels Digest #1 Hottest Company in Renewable Fuels, Chemicals & Biomaterials
  • 2020 Biofuels Digest #3 Best Company to work for in the Advanced Bioeconomy
  • 2020 Fast Company World Changing Company
  • 2020 CNBC #43 on Top 50 Disrupter Companies list
  • 2019 Chicago Innovation Awards Winner
  • 2019 Fortune Magazine - Change the World - Companies to watch
  • 2019 Kirkpatrick Chemical Engineering Achievement Award
  • LanzaTech is committed to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion as part of our mission, culture & core values

This position is open to candidates authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis for any employer. LanzaTech is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status.

About the Role

We are seeking an Automation Scientist to oversee LanzaTech's biofoundry and high-throughput strain development pipeline, supporting the development of proprietary gas fermenting microbes for production of new molecules from waste gases. LanzaTech has designed, built and operates the world-first anaerobic biofoundry, a fully integrated platform of several automated modules with the capability of growing and manipulating thousands of anaerobic strains on gaseous feedstocks. A successful candidate will join LanzaTech's Automation team and be a part of an effort pushing the boundaries of automation in context of anaerobic conditions and non-model organisms. The Automation team is a cross-functional team within LanzaTech's Synthetic Biology group who support a variety of projects both within the group and across the company.

Activities include automated, high-throughput bacterial transformation and culturing, strain quality control, and product screening as well as integration of new devices and emerging technologies. A successful candidate will also be expected to participate in data capture through both automated and semi-automated data management systems and the daily execution of high-throughput experiments and method development and optimization as well as coordination with various project teams.

Duties & Responsibilities:
  • Oversight and day-to-day operation of LanzaTech's biofoundry and other automation systems including high-throughput culture, transformation, and screening of LanzaTech proprietary microbes;
  • Definition, development and optimization of high-throughput workflows including integration of new instruments, emerging technologies and information systems;
  • Use of laboratory information management systems (LIMS) and bioinformatics software tools and databases including data capture from high-throughput experiments and analysis of statistics and results against model predictions;
  • Work in cross-functional setting including coordination with project team leaders;
  • Attend seminars and participate in group and project meetings or lab activities as required.

Requirements:
  • M.Sc. or B.Sc. (or equivalent) in Synthetic Biology, Bioengineering, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Chemical Engineering or a related field.
  • Minimum of 2 years' experience in biotechnology industry, a biofoundry or a high-throughput environment with hand-on experience in high-throughput workflow development and/or execution, preferentially with high throughput microbial culture screening.
  • Proficient in working with laboratory automation software and/or programming as well as statistics. Programming Hamilton liquid handing systems (Venus programming) and Thermo scheduling software (Momentum™) is highly preferred.
  • Strong organizational, time management, and interpersonal skills. Ability to multi-task and keep track of multiple tasks and projects at the same time. High attention to detail and careful record keeping.
  • Independent and highly self-motivated. Excellent communication skills and team-work oriented.
  • Awareness of safety issues in the work environment.
  • Proficiency in programming (e.g. Python)
  • Experience with SQL databases and LIMS systems
  • Experience with cell sorting
  • Experience with microfluidics.
  • Experience working with anaerobic microbes.
Are you fully authorized to work for any US employer without restriction or need for sponsorship in the next 5 years? *
Are you able to comfortably commute to our headquarters in Skokie IL or are you willing to relocate to accommodate? *

Do you have an M.Sc. or B.Sc. (or equivalent) in Synthetic Biology, Bioengineering, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Chemical Engineering or a related field? *

Do you have minimum of 2 years experience in biotechnology industry, a biofoundry or a high-throughput environment with hand-on experience in high-throughput workflow development and/or execution, preferentially with high throughput microbial culture screening? *

Are you proficient in working with laboratory automation software and/or programming as well as statistics?
Programming Hamilton liquid handing systems (Venus programming) and Thermo scheduling software (Momentum™) is highly preferred *

Speak to your organizational, time management, and interpersonal skills along with your ability to multi-task and keep track of multiple tasks and projects at the same time. *

Speak to your proficiency in programming (e.g. Python).
(Preferred, not required) *

Do you have experience with SQL databases and LIMS systems?
(Preferred, not required) *

Do you have experience with cell sorting?
(Preferred, not required) *

Do you have experience with microfluidics?
(Preferred, not required) *

Do you have experience working with anaerobic microbes?
(Preferred, not required) *

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