Research Associate, Protein Purification & Quality Control

What We’re Building

At 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:

🤖 Physical AI that can operate scientific instruments with human-level dexterity.

🧪 Scientific AI that can analyze results, reason about next steps, and close the loop autonomously.

This is an incredibly ambitious mission, but we believe that a team of ambitious people with high ownership can accomplish incredible things.

About the Role

We 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.

This 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.

Key Responsibilities

Run automated mammalian cell growth and transfection for recombinant protein expression, including cell maintenance, expansion, and transient transfection

Perform protein purification on AKTA (FPLC) and KingFisher platforms — affinity capture, polishing, buffer exchange, and magnetic-bead-based processing

Execute analytical QC by SEC (analytical UPLC/HPLC) to assess purity, aggregation, and monomericity, and support additional QC as needed (concentration, endotoxin, SDS-PAGE)

Prepare buffers, resins, columns, and consumables, and carry out instrument cleaning, maintenance, and column packing/qualification to keep workflows running reliably

Execute purification and QC according to established SOPs, and help refine and document protocols as workflows mature

Partner 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

Perform first-pass data analysis and QC on chromatograms and SEC traces, tracking yield and purity and flagging anomalies for review

Maintain rigorous, well-organized experimental records in electronic lab notebooks (ELN) and support reproducibility across every batch you produce

What You Bring to the Team

B.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)

Hands-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

Hands-on wet-lab experience and comfort at the bench — mammalian cell culture, aseptic technique, pipetting, and careful execution of detailed protocols

Curiosity about protein biochemistry and analytical characterization, and eagerness to learn the theory and practical pitfalls (aggregation, capture chemistry, buffer conditions, column behavior)

Strong documentation habits, attention to detail, and the ability to juggle multiple tasks in parallel

A basic understanding of antibody structure and function, or a strong desire to learn it

A scrappy, can-do attitude — you figure things out, ask good questions, and get things done

Bonus Points For

Hands-on experience with analytical SEC or other analytical chromatography (UPLC/HPLC)

Experience with automated or high-throughput purification (e.g., KingFisher, multi-column AKTA, robotic purification)

Experience with mammalian expression systems (CHO/HEK) and transient transfection at scale

Experience with lab automation or liquid handling platforms (e.g., Dynamic Devices Lynx, Tempest)

Familiarity with alternative binder formats — VHHs, bispecifics, Fc-fusions, or non-Ig scaffolds

Basic scripting or data-handling skills (Python/R) for organizing and analyzing purification and QC data

This 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.

What We Offer

An opportunity to change the way that scientific research happens

Fast-paced, creative, and collaborative work environment

Significant equity ownership

401k

Medical and dental insurance

Unlimited PTO

Weekday dinners