Merge Labs · 1 day ago
Scientist - Cell Biology
San Francisco, CA
Full-time
Onsite
Senior Level
$165K/yr - $215K/yrMerge Labs is a frontier research lab focused on bridging biological and artificial intelligence to enhance human capabilities. The Scientist in Cell Biology will engineer neurons and other cell types to develop novel molecular biosensors and actuators, evaluating their functionality and impact on cell health, while collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to advance neural interfacing technologies.
BiotechnologyHuman ResourcesSoftware
Responsibilities
Develop, maintain, or optimize mammalian cell preparations, including cell lines, primary and iPSC-derived neurons, brain organoids, or brain slices
Collaboratively design and build novel protein and genetic constructs to enable biosensing and/or actuation functionality
Develop and perform cell engineering workflows, including construct delivery, selection, and/or differentiation
Characterize construct functionality and cellular burden using activity recording, microscopy, stimulation, flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, and/or next-gen sequencing
Collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams integrating protein engineering, biochemistry, cell biology, neuroscience, genetics, research platform, and computational methods
Recruit and mentor research associate(s) as needed to expand efforts
Qualification
Required
Ph.D. or equivalent experience leading research projects end-to-end in neuroscience, cell biology, molecular biology, bioengineering, or a related field
Demonstrated expertise in neuronal cell culture and engineering
Knowledge of cell pathologies, metabolism, proteostatis, protein trafficking and/or epigenetics
Programming and data analysis skills (Python, MATLAB, or ImageJ/Fiji)
A love of new methods and scientific challenges
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
Develop, maintain, or optimize mammalian cell preparations, including cell lines, primary and iPSC-derived neurons, brain organoids, or brain slices
Collaboratively design and build novel protein and genetic constructs to enable biosensing and/or actuation functionality
Develop and perform cell engineering workflows, including construct delivery, selection, and/or differentiation
Characterize construct functionality and cellular burden using activity recording, microscopy, stimulation, flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, and/or next-gen sequencing
Collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams integrating protein engineering, biochemistry, cell biology, neuroscience, genetics, research platform, and computational methods
Recruit and mentor research associate(s) as needed to expand efforts
Preferred
Experience with primary neurons, human iPSC-derived neurons, brain organoids, and/or acute/organotypic brain slices highly preferred
Experience with high-throughput screening, tissue clearing, advanced microscopy, next-gen sequencing, or spatial transcriptomic techniques highly preferred, but not required
Experience with protein or gene circuit engineering
Experience with electrophysiology and/or neural circuit interrogation
Company
Merge Labs
Merge Labs provides a single API to connect software applications with multiple third-party platforms.
Founded in 2025
11-50 employees
Funding
Current Stage
Early StageTotal Funding
$252MKey Investors
OpenAI
2026-01-15Seed· $252M
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