SecureBio

Research Associate I

Boston

Sponsorship not specified$70k-$85kDetected 1 day ago

LogisticsPCRNGSResearch

About the role

We're hiring a Research Associate I to help keep our sequencing pipeline running as we scale.
Reporting to the Lab Operations Manager, you'll spend most of your time on sample processing, receiving wastewater and nasal swabs, taking them through concentration and extraction, and helping to move samples through the pipeline efficiently.
You'll also spend some of your time on the molecular side, supporting library prep and stepping in where the team needs extra capacity.

You'll document your work rigorously in our electronic laboratory notebook, follow SOPs carefully, and flag issues or suggest improvements as you spot them.
You'll maintain accurate metadata and sample tracking, and support clean, standardised handoffs to the next stage in the pipeline.

A Bachelor's degree in a life sciences field, with 2+ years of hands-on wet-lab experience.
Hands-on experience with sample processing, PCR, and nucleic acid extraction and quantification.
Experience with data entry in an electronic laboratory notebook.
Demonstrated ability to follow laboratory protocols carefully and capture rigorous, organised notes.

The ability to work collaboratively, take direction well, and communicate clearly across a small team.
Some experience or familiarity working with RNA.
Exposure to short- and/or long-read sequencing workflows, including NGS sample processing and library preparation.
Experience working with viruses.
Familiarity with inventory, ordering, or sample tracking systems.
Experience with environmental or complex samples such as wastewater or nasal swabs.
Exposure to liquid handling automation or high-throughput lab environments.
General awareness of metagenomic or pathogen surveillance applications.

You'll help maintain reagent and consumable inventory, including stock monitoring, reorders, deliveries, and vendor coordination.
Weekend coverage really matters here: it allows us to receive and begin processing samples on days the lab would otherwise be quiet, and cuts significant time out of our end-to-end turnaround.

SecureBio is a nonprofit working to protect the world from catastrophic pandemics.
As advances in biotechnology lower the barriers to engineering dangerous pathogens, our mission is to make sure humanity's detection and alert systems are ready.
Our Detection team runs one of the world's largest metagenomic biosurveillance networks, sequencing wastewater and nasal swab samples daily to catch emerging pathogens before they reach outbreak scale.
Every sample that comes through our lab is one that our computational team can turn into a real detection signal, sometimes for pathogens nobody was specifically looking for.
The Laboratory Science team is where the work of biosurveillance begins.
Samples arrive from partner sites across the country and go through concentration, extraction, and library prep before being sequenced and handed off to the computational team.
Right now, the lab is a group of eight, including four scientists and four Research Associates, working closely together and increasingly cross trained so people can move fluidly between roles.
It's the kind of team where you learn quickly, get real ownership early, and see the impact of your work on the wider mission!

This listing is sourced directly from SecureBio's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.