(Senior) Research Associate, Stem Cell Biology

Conception; Berkeley (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive pay

Company equity

Excellent healthcare benefits

Job summary

Conception seeks a highly skilled, hands-on scientist to support its pluripotent stem cell program in a fast-paced lab environment.

The role emphasizes deriving, expanding, banking, and characterizing iPSC/ESC lines, maintaining high-quality cultures, and collaborating with stem cell and reproductive biology teams on technical workflows.

Qualifications

• PhD in stem cell biology, developmental biology, reproductive biology or related field.
• 4+ years hands-on experience with human pluripotent stem cell culture and workflows.
• Direct experience deriving and banking iPSC/ESC lines is highly valuable.
• Strong aseptic technique and handling high-value cell lines.
• Ability to troubleshoot, improve reproducibility, and maintain complex workflows.
• Experience with 3D culture, organoid culture, co-culture systems is desirable.
• Thrives in a high-intensity startup environment with a team-first mindset.

Responsibilities

• Build, optimize, and execute workflows for stem-cell-derived reproductive cell development.
• Derive, establish, expand, bank, and characterize iPSC & ESC lines.
• Maintain high-quality ESC/iPSC cultures, document passages, and support QC assays.
• Troubleshoot protocols, improve reproducibility, ensure consistency across workflows.
• Establish epigenetic quality readouts and collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams.
• Execute technically demanding workflows with precision, timing, and repetition.
• Contribute to lab operations and maintain meticulous records.

Skills

Stem cell culture

iPSC derivation

3D culture

QC & assays

Team collaboration

Education

PhD in stem cell biology or related field

Tools

iPSC banking

micromanipulation

organoid/co-culture systems

Job description

About Conception

Conception is pioneering the future of reproductive biology by generating functional human eggs from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Our mission is to unlock new possibilities for fertility, reproductive health, and genetic diversity. We are building a world-class team at the intersection of stem cell biology, developmental biology, and reproductive biology to make this vision a reality.

The position

We are seeking an extremely hard-working, highly skilled, hands-on scientist or scientific specialist to support our pluripotent stem cell program. This is a technical specialist role for someone who wants to be in the lab doing difficult, delicate, high-impact work.

Ideally, you have direct experience deriving, establishing, expanding, banking, and characterizing pluripotent stem cell lines. We are looking for a rigorous bench scientist who is excited to execute, troubleshoot, repeat, improve, and master technically demanding workflows. The right person will be flexible in focus, willing to learn new techniques, and motivated to contribute wherever the lab needs them most. Experience with QC readout establishment, stem cell differentiation, 3D culture, or related reproductive biology techniques is highly valuable.

Title is negotiable based on experience and may range from Scientific Specialist to Senior Scientist.

What you’ll do

• Build, optimize, and repeatedly execute workflows needed for stem-cell-derived reproductive cell development

• Derive, establish, expand, bank, and characterize iPSC & ESC lines

• Maintain high-quality ESC/iPSC cultures, document passage history and culture conditions, and support characterization and QC assays

• Troubleshoot protocols, improve reproducibility, and help maintain consistency across difficult and delicate workflows

• Establish epigenetic quality readouts

• Collaborate closely with stem cell, reproductive biology, embryology, genomics, and preclinical teams

• Execute technically demanding workflows with precision, timing, repetition, and consistency

What we’re looking for

• PhD in stem cell biology, developmental biology, reproductive biology, cell biology, embryology, bioengineering, or a related field

• Ideally 4+ years of hands-on experience with human pluripotent stem cell culture, reproductive biology, or related technical workflows

• Direct experience with ESC/iPSC derivation, or ESC/iPSC line establishment is especially valuable

• Strong aseptic technique and experience maintaining sensitive, high-value cell lines

• Excellent attention to detail, reliability, and comfort with difficult, repetitive protocols that require precision and consistency

• Hands-on experience with ESC/iPSC expansion and banking, stem cell QC, 3D culture, organoid culture, co-culture systems, microdissection, micromanipulation, or long-duration tissue and cell culture workflows is highly desirable

• Strong work ethic and team-first mindset. Willing to do hands-on work, including routine and repetitive tasks, and step in wherever needed

• Able to thrive in a high-intensity, fast-paced, flexible startup environment

Why join us

• Impact: Help build the technical foundation for one of the most ambitious programs in reproductive biology

• Ownership: Take responsibility for difficult, high-value workflows and help make them reproducible and scalable

• Growth: Develop deep expertise in technically demanding reproductive and stem cell biology methods

• Community: Work alongside passionate scientists tackling one of the most exciting frontiers in biology with a deeply aligned team

• Mission: Build the biological foundation for a new era of reproductive medicine, expanding what is possible for millions of people and families with limited options today

Come and work with us

We are well funded and well connected in Silicon Valley. We offer competitive pay, company equity, excellent healthcare benefits, and a collaborative research environment focused on meaningful results.

If you are passionate, hardworking, and aligned with our mission, we want to hear from you.

To learn more about the original mouse proof of concept to live birth that inspired us, see https://www.nature.com/articles/nature20104