About Arc Institute

The Arc Institute is a new scientific institution that conducts curiosity-driven basic science and technology development to understand and treat complex human diseases. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Arc is an independent research organization founded on the belief that many important research programs will be enabled by new institutional models. Arc operates in partnership with Stanford University, UCSF, and UC Berkeley.

While the prevailing university research model has yielded many tremendous successes, we believe in the importance of institutional experimentation as a way to make progress. These include:

• Funding: Arc will fully fund Core Investigator's (PI's) research groups, liberating scientists from the typical constraints of project-based external grants.
• Technology: Biomedical research has become increasingly dependent on complex tooling. Arc Technology Centers develop, optimize and deploy rapidly advancing experimental and computational technologies in collaboration with Core Investigators.
• Support: Arc aims to provide first-class support—operationally, financially and scientifically—that will enable scientists to pursue long-term high risk, high reward research that can meaningfully advance progress in disease cures, including neurodegeneration, cancer, and immune dysfunction.
• Culture: We believe that culture matters enormously in science and that excellence is difficult to sustain. We aim to create a culture that is focused on scientific curiosity, a deep commitment to truth, broad ambition, and selfless collaboration.

With $650M in committed funding, the vision in the first 2-3 years is to grow to a team of roughly 150 team members, with plans for further significant growth over the decade ahead.

About the position

The Konermann Lab at the Arc Institute and Stanford Medical School is looking to hire a Research Technician. The Technician will join a fast-moving project on the development and application of CRISPR-based tools in stem cells and neuronal cell types for investigation of the genetics of stem cells, the neuronal system, and neurodegenerative diseases.

This project builds on our recent high-profile work in genome-scale CRISPR screening (Konermann et al., Nature 2015; Biering et al., Biorxiv 2021), transcriptome engineering (Konermann et al., Cell 2018), CasRx guide design tools (Wei et al., BioRxiv 2021), and will involve development or applications of new CRISPR tools and single-cell sequencing technologies.

In this position you will:

• Collaborate closely with a senior graduate student (Jingyi Wei) to conduct high-throughput CRISPR transcriptional perturbation experiments in human stem cells and stem cell-derived neurons and glia to investigate neurodegenerative diseases.
• Learn a wide variety of cutting-edge techniques while participating in a project at the intersection of genomics, technology development, stem cell biology and neuroscience.
• Assist with molecular and cell experiments including cloning, mammalian cell culture, transfection, staining, cell sorting, and RNA sequencing
• Assist with planning projects and designing experiments in collaboration with a senior graduate student and Prof. Konermann
• Learn to eventually conduct experimental planning, execution, analysis, troubleshooting and interpretation with a high degree of independence with continued support from the rest of the team

Requirements

• B.S. in Biology, Bioengineering, Biochemistry, Neuroscience, or a related relevant field
• At least 1 year of laboratory experience (including during your undergraduate studies), incorporating strong hands-on experience with molecular biology and cell culture techniques
• Bonus: experience working with molecular cloning and sensitive cells (e.g. stem cells, neurons, etc.)
• Excellent communication, organization, and critical thinking skills
• Enthusiasm for research and motivation to work as part of a fast paced, collaborative team