Company Summary:

Laronde is pioneering a platform that offers a completely novel way of modulating human biology. Endless RNA™ (eRNA), invented at Flagship Labs, is a uniquely engineered RNA that can be programmed to express diverse proteins inside the body. It is persistent, non-immunogenic, allows for repeat dosing, and offers flexibility in formulation and delivery. Laronde was founded in 2017 by Flagship Labs, the innovation foundry of Flagship Pioneering. Laronde has raised a record breaking $440 Million in a Series B Financing to advance the development of its eRNA platform and a broad pipeline of programs across a number of therapeutic categories. The company is rapidly scaling to support the parallel development of multiple programs across many disease areas. To learn more, please visit the company’s website at www.laronde.bio/ .

Laronde was founded by Flagship Pioneering, a team of entrepreneurial scientists that conceives, creates, resources and grows first-in-category life sciences companies. Since 2000, Flagship has created over 100 groundbreaking companies pioneering novel and proprietary biological, industrial and engineering approaches to solve major needs in human health and sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, the firm has, through its Flagship Labs unit, applied its unique hypothesis-driven innovation process to originate and foster more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in over $130 billion in aggregate value. To date, Flagship has deployed over $2.5 billion in capital toward the founding and growth of its pioneering companies alongside more than $19 billion of follow-on investments from other institutions. The current Flagship ecosystem comprises 41 transformative companies, including Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ: DNLI), Indigo Ag, Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), Rubius Therapeutics (NASDAQ: RUBY), Sana Biotechnology (NASDAQ: SANA), Seres Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MCRB), and Valo Health.

Position Summary:

Laronde is seeking an outstanding Principal Scientist, Structural Biology to join a multidisciplinary team of experimental and computational synthetic biologists and engineers responsible for study, design and optimization of novel endless RNA (eRNA) therapeutics. The ideal candidate will lead experimental efforts to characterize eRNA structure in vitro and inside living cells in a high-throughput manner through applying the world-class chemical probing tools coupled with next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies. If you are a passionate and purposeful scientist keen on testing your hypotheses and learning from some of the best synthetic biologists and engineers whilst getting to work with complex multidimensional data sets, then we are looking for you.

For this role we are also open to remote working or a hybrid of remote/onsite.

Key Responsibilities:

• Perform and supervise development and implementation of novel chemical probing methods to interrogate eRNA structural features in a variety of contexts and to understand the eRNA sequence-structure-function relationships
• Provide leadership and mentor more junior experimental scientists
• Work closely with an interdisciplinary team of experimental and computational biologists to design experiments, analyze data, interpret and present your results at company meetings and strategic program readouts
• Work effectively with High-throughput Pharmacology, Chemistry, Therapeutic areas, Discovery Biology, and Manufacturing teams to drive discovery and development efforts
• Maintain scientific and technical expertise through familiarity with scientific literature and attending conferences
• Work closely within an entrepreneurial, highly-collaborative, interdisciplinary, and fast-paced environment and willingness to change the status quo

Qualifications:

• PHD in Molecular Biology, Biochemistry or a related field with 12+ years of post-doctoral experience in academia or industry
• Strong expertise in RNA biochemistry and RNA structural biology
• Experience with chemical probing (e.g., SHAPE-MaP) is a strong plus
• Expertise in NGS library preparation, bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing, and analysis of RNA-binding protein interactions
• Experience culturing mammalian cell lines and primary cells
• Drug discovery experience in the field of RNA Therapeutics within industry or academy is preferred
• Peer-reviewed publications that can showcase your skills
• Demonstrated ability in working with highly skilled teams in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial and technical environment
• Excellent communication, scientific writing, and presentation skills

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop and implement predictive modeling approaches for eRNA stability optimization through eRNA structure designs
• Identify, implement, and develop methods for molecular modeling of RNA folding (2D, 3D, 4D), using integrative computational approaches (RNA software packages, molecular dynamics), and experimental data (SAXS, SHAPE)
• Present your results to an interdisciplinary team of experimental, computational biologists and machine learning colleagues at company meetings and strategic program readouts
• Maintain a well-documented, reusable codebase, and traceable model history
• Generate IP and participate in the drafting of patent filings
• Work closely with Therapeutic areas, Discovery Biology, and Manufacturing teams to drive discovery and development efforts
• Maintain scientific and technical expertise through familiarity with scientific literature and attending conferences
• Work closely within an entrepreneurial, highly-collaborative, interdisciplinary, and fast-paced environment and willingness to change the status quo

Qualifications:

• Advanced degree in computational biology or computational chemistry with expertise in machine learning or an advanced degree in computational sciences, machine learning or other technical fields with expertise in RNA biology
• Strong domain knowledge in machine learning (Deep Learning, Embeddings, Reinforcement and Transfer Learning) and algorithmic analysis of data
• Drug discovery experience in the field of RNA Therapeutics within industry or academy is preferred
• GitHub repository or publications that can showcase your skills
• Demonstrated ability in working with highly skilled teams in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial and technical environment
• Excellent communication, scientific writing, and presentation skills

Flagship Pioneering and our ecosystem companies are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

Recruitment & Staffing Agencies: Flagship Pioneering and its affiliated Flagship Lab companies (collectively, “FSP”) do not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to FSP or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Flagship Pioneering’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of FSP, and FSP will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.