Research Associate III / Senior Research Associate, Services

Curi Bio, Inc.; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 79,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, Vision

401k plan

Commuter benefits program

Career advancement opportunities

Job summary

Curi Bio builds human‑relevant 3D engineered‑tissue platforms for drug discovery and development. The Research Associate III or Senior Research Associate will run end‑to‑end customer studies on Mantarray and Nautilai, casting skeletal muscle, cardiac, and NMJ tissues and recording contractility.

This bench role requires careful execution, clear records, and strong communication with project leads. Based in Seattle, WA, you will work on multiple projects, balance casting, maintenance, dosing, and

Qualifications

• BS in biology or related field with 4+ years hands-on lab experience, or MS with 2+ years; senior level if 6+ BS or 4+ MS or PhD.
• Strong mammalian cell-culture skills with sterile technique and reliable outcomes.
• Authorized to work in the United States and able to work onsite in Seattle five days a week.

Responsibilities

• Execute customer studies on the Mantarray and Nautilai platforms.
• Cast and maintain 3D engineered tissues in 24-well and 96-well formats; manage media changes and tissue health checks.
• Apply treatments and dosing protocols, including compound dilutions, AAV/RNA therapies, and stimulation protocols.
• Run contractility recordings and document work in real time via ELN.
• Flag problems early and work with project leads to fix; help keep the lab running.
• Contribute to protocol improvements and internal R&D when customer load allows.

Skills

Mammalian cell culture

Sterile technique

Data recording

Communication

Education

BS in biology or related field

MS with 2+ years

PhD with relevant cell-culture or 3D-tissue experience

Tools

Benchling

Job description

Curi Bio is hiring a Research Associate III or Senior Research Associate to join our R&D Services team in Seattle. You will run customer studies end to end on our 3D engineered-tissue platforms: casting skeletal-muscle, cardiac, and neuromuscular-junction tissues, maintaining them in culture, recording contractility on Mantarray and Nautilai, and turning the data into IND-ready results. This is a hands‑on bench role on a small team where careful execution, good records, and clear communication matter as much as technical skill.

The work matters. The tissues you cast are living human muscle and heart, and the data you record from them feeds directly into our customers' go / no-go, dose-selection, and IND decisions. Much of it is in rare disease, where we build tissues from patient‑derived iPSC lines and a well‑run study can be the most relevant preclinical evidence a program has, including n‑of‑1 programs where the tissue in your incubator comes from the patient who will receive the therapy. Mantarray and Nautilai are the first commercial systems to measure contractile force from 3D engineered tissues at scale, and the protocols and models are still being invented by the people who run them.

The team runs several customer studies in parallel, so you will balance casting, maintenance, dosing, and recording across projects on a weekly schedule, and you will work closely with project leads to keep studies on time and on scope.

We are hiring now. The team is short‑handed for a busy quarter of signed customer work, so we are looking for someone who can start immediately, come up to speed quickly on our casting and recording workflows, and take ownership of studies within the first few weeks.

About the role

Curi Bio is hiring a Research Associate III or Senior Research Associate to join our R&D Services team in Seattle. You will run customer studies end to end on our 3D engineered-tissue platforms: casting skeletal-muscle, cardiac, and neuromuscular-junction tissues, maintaining them in culture, recording contractility on Mantarray and Nautilai, and turning the data into IND-ready results. This is a hands‑on bench role on a small team where careful execution, good records, and clear communication matter as much as technical skill.

The work matters. The tissues you cast are living human muscle and heart, and the data you record from them feeds directly into our customers' go / no-go, dose-selection, and IND decisions. Much of it is in rare disease, where we build tissues from patient‑derived iPSC lines and a well‑run study can be the most relevant preclinical evidence a program has, including n‑of‑1 programs where the tissue in your incubator comes from the patient who will receive the therapy. Mantarray and Nautilai are the first commercial systems to measure contractile force from 3D engineered tissues at scale, and the protocols and models are still being invented by the people who run them.

The team runs several customer studies in parallel, so you will balance casting, maintenance, dosing, and recording across projects on a weekly schedule, and you will work closely with project leads to keep studies on time and on scope.

We are hiring now. The team is short‑handed for a busy quarter of signed customer work, so we are looking for someone who can start immediately, come up to speed quickly on our casting and recording workflows, and take ownership of studies within the first few weeks.

About Curi Bio

Curi Bio builds human‑relevant 3D engineered‑tissue platforms for drug discovery and development. Our Mantarray and Nautilai systems measure the contractile function of engineered skeletal‑muscle, cardiac, and NMJ tissues made from human iPSC‑derived and primary cells, and our Services team uses those platforms to run studies for pharma and biotech customers: efficacy and dose‑response screens, cardiotoxicity, disease modeling, and gene‑and‑RNA‑therapy delivery. We are headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

What you'll do

• Execute customer studies on the Mantarray and Nautilai platforms.
• Cast and maintain 3D engineered skeletal‑muscle, cardiac (EHT), and NMJ tissues in 24‑well and 96‑well formats, including hydrogel and casting‑mix preparation, media changes, and tissue health checks.
• Prepare and apply treatments: compound dilution series, vehicle controls, AAV / siRNA / RNA‑therapeutic dosing, and optogenetic or electrical stimulation protocols.
• Run contractility recordings .
• Document all work in real time through ELN
• Flag problems early and work with the project lead on the fix.
• Help keep the lab running
• Contribute to protocol improvements and internal R&D studies when customer load allows.

What you bring

• BS in biology, bioengineering, or a related field with 4+ years of hands‑on lab experience, or an MS with 2+ years. Candidates with 6+ years (BS) or 4+ years (MS), or a PhD with relevant cell‑culture or 3D‑tissue experience, will be considered at the Senior Research Associate level.
• Strong mammalian cell‑culture skills with a track record of sterile technique, consistent passaging, and reliable thaw and plating outcomes.
• Comfort running multi‑day, multi‑plate experiments to a fixed schedule, and willingness to take a turn in the weekend coverage rotation described below.
• Careful, real‑time documentation; experience with an electronic lab notebook (Benchling preferred).
• Clear written and spoken communication; you ask when a protocol is unclear and report problems the day they happen.
• Ability to work in the lab for most of the day
• Authorized to work in the United States and able to work onsite in Seattle five days a week.

Nice to have

• Prior work in a CRO, core facility, or other service setting with external customers and deadlines.
• Direct experience with Mantarray, Nautilai, or other contractility, optical‑mapping, or MEA platforms.
• Familiarity with engineered heart tissue (EHT) or engineered muscle tissue (EMT), fibrin or collagen hydrogels, or optogenetic stimulation.

Schedule

Living tissues do not take weekends off, so the Services team shares weekend coverage on a rotation. Expect to cover roughly one weekend in four, usually a full day media changes, health checks, and any scheduled recordings. Every weekend you cover earns a flex day off the following week. Weekday hours are otherwise regular, with occasional early or late time‑points when a study design calls for them. Holiday maintenance is similarly shared across the team.

Salary Range

Full‑Time Salary Range: $79,000-$100,000 + benefits

Actual pay will be determined based on education, certifications, experience, and other job‑related factors permitted by law.

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, Vision, Short‑term Disability
• 401k plan
• Commuter benefits program
• Career advancement opportunities within Curi Bio

Curi Bio is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations, and ordinances.