Research Scientist – Strain & Enzyme Engineering

Manus Bio; Waltham (MA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Manus Bio in Waltham, MA is seeking a Research Scientist to advance strain and enzyme engineering for BioAlternatives. The role focuses on designing, building, and evaluating microbial strains and enzyme variants, with high-throughput screening and scale-up in collaboration with the process development team.

You will work across strain engineering, fermentation, analytical sciences, and downstream processing to accelerate development from design to scale-up.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. or equivalent in a related field.
• Hands-on genetic engineering experience including cloning and pathway assembly.
• Knowledge of enzyme engineering and DBTL workflows.
• Expertise in microbial physiology and metabolism.

Responsibilities

• Identify and address metabolic bottlenecks in biosynthetic pathways.
• Design, construct, and optimize biosynthetic pathways using metabolic engineering tools.
• Apply DBTL to evaluate enzyme panels and variants to improve activity.
• Design and validate vectors for gene expression in microbial hosts.
• Generate E. coli strains using recombineering and CRISPR-based editing.
• Develop high-throughput screening workflows to assess performance.
• Operate GC/LC instrumentation to quantify titer, yield, and productivity.
• Translate experimental insights into actionable strategies across teams.
• Maintain accurate experimental records and data in LIMS.

Skills

Genetic engineering

Metabolic engineering

Cloning

DBTL workflows

Enzyme engineering

Microbial physiology

Education

PhD in Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, Biochemistry, Microbiology or related field

Tools

GC

LC

LC-MS

Chromosomal manipulation

CRISPR

Job description

Manus Bio in Waltham, MA is seeking a Research Scientist to advance strain and enzyme engineering for BioAlternatives. The role focuses on designing, building, and evaluating microbial strains and enzyme variants, with high-throughput screening and scale-up in collaboration with the process development team.

You will work across strain engineering, fermentation, analytical sciences, and downstream processing to accelerate development from design to scale-up.