Lab Director Bakar Bio Labs, Berkeley, CA In person, full time View role

Open Culture; Berkeley (CA); On-site; USD 145,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Health benefits

Flexible paid time off

Visa sponsorship considered

Job summary

Open Culture in Berkeley seeks a founding, director-level leader to stand up and run a tissue culture lab, manage the biology team, and oversee iPSC and neural organoid work. You will hire and train research staff and ensure rigorous biosafety and data quality.

You will guide neural cultures and organoids on high-density microelectrode arrays, maintain SOPs, and ensure compliant, scalable operations with Habitat instruments.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands-on mammalian cell culture including iPSC maintenance and neural differentiation.
• 3D brain organoids made from stem cells with your own hands.
• Experience setting up a lab: procurement, equipment, vendors, safety and compliance.
• Cells plated on and recorded from microelectrode arrays.
• SOPs, batch records and QC criteria others can follow.

Responsibilities

• Stand up the lab: layout, biosafety cabinets, incubators, cryostorage, imaging and recording stations, supply chain and vendors.
• Run compliance: BSL-2 practice, bloodborne pathogen training, stem cell research oversight, chemical and waste handling.
• Keep the biology flowing: iPSC and mouse lines banked and passaged on schedule, QC that decides what goes forward, and organoids with batch records that trace each one to its line and passage.
• Plate neurons and organoids on MaxOne and MaxTwo arrays, and load, service and maintain Habitat.
• Hire, train and manage the research associates who join the biology team.

Skills

Mammalian cell culture

iPSC maintenance

Neural differentiation

Organoid culture

Lab management

BSL-2 compliance

Tools

MaxOne platform

MaxTwo platform

Habitat system

Job description

Own our lab at Bakar Bio Labs and the supply of living biology. Set up and run the tissue culture lab, keep mouse and human lines on schedule, produce whole-brain, forebrain and midbrain organoids, plate cultures on high-density microelectrode arrays, and service the Habitat instruments that run experiments on them. A founding, director-level role that builds and manages the biology team.

What you will do

• Stand up the lab: layout, biosafety cabinets, incubators, cryostorage, imaging and recording stations, supply chain and vendors.
• Run compliance: BSL-2 practice, bloodborne pathogen training, stem cell research oversight, chemical and waste handling.
• Keep the biology flowing: iPSC and mouse lines banked and passaged on schedule, QC that decides what goes forward, and organoids with batch records that trace each one to its line and passage.
• Plate neurons and organoids on MaxOne and MaxTwo arrays, and load, service and maintain Habitat.
• Hire, train and manage the research associates who join the biology team.

What you bring

• 5+ years of hands-on mammalian cell culture, including iPSC maintenance and neural differentiation.
• 3D brain organoids made from stem cells with your own hands.
• A lab you have set up or run: procurement, equipment, vendors, safety and compliance.
• Cells plated on and recorded from microelectrode arrays.
• SOPs, batch records and QC criteria others can follow.

Good to have

• MaxWell Biosystems, 3Brain or Axion platforms
• Mouse primary neural cultures alongside human iPSC-derived cultures
• Perfusion-based, microfluidic or automated culture
• Time in a shared facility, and hiring experience

Base salary $145,000 to $170,000 a year, depending on experience. Equity, health benefits and flexible paid time off. Visa sponsorship is evaluated case by case; tell us your situation early.