{"id":736676,"url":"https://alion.io/job/medra-research-associate-protein-purification-quality-control","title":"Research Associate, Protein Purification & Quality Control","company":{"id":678855,"name":"Medra","domain":"medra.ai","url":"https://alion.io/company/medra","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":70,"open_postings":14,"ghost_share":0.5,"stale_share":0,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":null,"computed_at":"2026-10-20T05:45:00Z"}},"role":"Science & Research","role_family":"Science & Research","seniority":null,"employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["San Francisco, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":109000,"max_usd":296000,"period":"year","method":"role_country_seniority_unknown","sample_n":3587},"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"Physical AI","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-08-31T02:45:23Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-08-31","last_verified_at":"2026-10-20T19:26:08Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":50,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":0,"flags":["company_stale"],"days_open":50},"description":"What We’re Building \nAt Medra, our mission is to use AI, robotics, and biology to accelerate life science research, with the ultimate goal of eradicating disease. We have been quietly building the foundational layers of our Physical AI Scientist platform:\nPhysical AI that can operate scientific instruments with human-level dexterity.\nScientific AI that can analyze results, reason about next steps, and close the loop autonomously.\nThis is an incredibly ambitious mission, but we believe that a team of ambitious people with high ownership can accomplish incredible things.\nAbout the Role\nWe are looking for a Research Associate to help build and run protein production and quality control on the Medra Physical AI platform. Working alongside our scientists, you will execute the workflow that takes antibodies and alternative binders from cells to purified, characterized material - automated cell growth, transfection, purification, and analytical QC - and help turn these steps into robust, high-throughput workflows that run autonomously for our customers. Expression, capture and polishing chromatography, and purity and monomericity analysis are the daily bread of this role, and you’ll play a hands-on part in making them reproducible, automation-ready, and reliable.\nThis is a role for someone early in their career who loves being at the bench, has strong hands-on instincts, and is eager to grow their protein science under the guidance of experienced scientists. You’ll work closely with roboticists and software engineers to bring cell culture, purification, and QC into routine autonomous execution on our platform.\nKey Responsibilities\nRun automated mammalian cell growth and transfection for recombinant protein expression, including cell maintenance, expansion, and transient transfection\nPerform protein purification on AKTA (FPLC) and KingFisher platforms - affinity capture, polishing, buffer exchange, and magnetic-bead-based processing\nExecute analytical QC by SEC (analytical UPLC/HPLC) to assess purity, aggregation, and monomericity, and support additional QC as needed (concentration, endotoxin, SDS-PAGE)\nPrepare buffers, resins, columns, and consumables, and carry out instrument cleaning, maintenance, and column packing/qualification to keep workflows running reliably\nExecute purification and QC according to established SOPs, and help refine and document protocols as workflows mature\nPartner with roboticists and software engineers to translate manual purification and QC steps into reliable, high-throughput autonomous protocols - including sample handling, deck/plate setup, and data pipeline integration\nPerform first-pass data analysis and QC on chromatograms and SEC traces, tracking yield and purity and flagging anomalies for review\nMaintain rigorous, well-organized experimental records in electronic lab notebooks (ELN) and support reproducibility across every batch you produce\nWhat You Bring to the Team\nB.S. or M.S. in biochemistry, molecular biology, chemical/biological engineering, or a related discipline, with hands-on laboratory experience (research, internship, or 0-2+ years of industry/academic lab work)\nHands-on experience with protein purification - chromatography on AKTA/FPLC and/or bead-based purification - and comfort taking a sample from lysate or supernatant to purified protein\nHands-on wet-lab experience and comfort at the bench - mammalian cell culture, aseptic technique, pipetting, and careful execution of detailed protocols\nCuriosity about protein biochemistry and analytical characterization, and eagerness to learn the theory and practical pitfalls (aggregation, capture chemistry, buffer conditions, column behavior)\nStrong documentation habits, attention to detail, and the ability to juggle multiple tasks in parallel\nA basic understanding of antibody structure and function, or a strong desire to learn it\nA scrappy, can-do attitude - you figure things out, ask good questions, and get things done\nBonus Points For\nHands-on experience with analytical SEC or other analytical chromatography (UPLC/HPLC)\nExperience with automated or high-throughput purification (e.g., KingFisher, multi-column AKTA, robotic purification)\nExperience with mammalian expression systems (CHO/HEK) and transient transfection at scale\nExperience with lab automation or liquid handling platforms (e.g., Dynamic Devices Lynx, Tempest)\nFamiliarity with alternative binder formats - VHHs, bispecifics, Fc-fusions, or non-Ig scaffolds\nBasic scripting or data-handling skills (Python/R) for organizing and analyzing purification and QC data\nThis position is 100% in-person; you must be able to come on-site to our San Francisco office. We offer relocation benefits for applicants who need to relocate.\nWhat We Offer\nAn opportunity to change the way that scientific research happens\nFast-paced, creative, and collaborative work environment\nSignificant equity ownership\n401k\nMedical and dental insurance\nUnlimited PTO\nWeekday dinners","description_format":"text","description_chars":4980,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["401k plan","Dental insurance","Equity","Unlimited PTO"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":true,"industries":["Robotics AI","Laboratory & Pharmaceutical Robotics","AI for Science"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-11T11:14:46Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 7","filings_12m":7,"filings_prev_12m":1,"green_card_filings_12m":0,"median_offered_wage_usd":192500,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-10-15T11:24:14+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)"],"filings_for_role_12m":0}],"liveness":{"score":13,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.292,"p_room":0.45,"age_days":50,"expected_fill_days":32,"reasons":["conf:3","stale_co","win:tail"],"computed_at":"2026-10-20T05:45:00Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/medra-research-associate-protein-purification-quality-control","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/medra-research-associate-protein-purification-quality-control.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-20T22:10:43Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":25925,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-21T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":678855},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=678855"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fmedra-research-associate-protein-purification-quality-control"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fmedra-research-associate-protein-purification-quality-control"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fmedra-research-associate-protein-purification-quality-control"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/medra-research-associate-protein-purification-quality-control\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fmedra-research-associate-protein-purification-quality-control"}]}