Biochemist I

bp•San Diego, CA

5d•$102,000 - $170,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Fuels and Low Carbon Technology (F&LCT) team consists of over 300 technologists, scientists, and engineers who develop pioneering solutions to support BP’s Fuels, Refining, Bioenergy, and Hydrogen businesses. This group also supports the Technology division through innovation management, modeling, digital science, and academic research programs. The Bioenergy & Hydrogen Technology team (B&HT) brings together scientists and engineers dedicated to delivering low-carbon energy solutions that align with BP’s strategy, while also supporting the technological needs of our oil and gas projects. The team works across many of BP’s businesses, advancing areas such as novel feedstocks, biofuels and advanced biofuels, and hydrogen. The Opportunity The scientist will join our Biochemistry Team and will contribute to high-priority projects by characterizing enzyme activities and biochemical conversions and by engineering enzymes to advance low-carbon technologies. The individual will collaborate with a group of engineers and scientists including Synthetic Biology, Analytical Chemistry, Computational Biology, & Bioprocess teams. The scientist will bring expertise in enzyme characterization and screening and bring a keen interest in scientific discovery.

Requirements

Enzymology: Knowhow and experience in enzyme functional characterization, identification of enzymes in crude mixtures, enzyme quantification, stability testing, and determination of constants from enzyme steady-state kinetic testing.
Development of biochemical assays: including coupled assays, endpoint and continuous.
Develop data analysis and visualization from high-throughput and quantitative experiments including statistical significance of conclusions.
Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to effectively collaborate with cross-functional teams and make concise summaries.
Organization: Ability to prioritize responsibilities, respond flexibly to changing priorities, and work effectively in a multitasking and matrix environment.
Safety: Ensure all laboratory and process development activities follow standard operating procedures (SOPs), environmental health and safety (EHS) guidelines, and quality standards at bp Biosciences Center.
PhD degree in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, or Bioengineering, or Master’s plus minimum of 5 years of proven experience.

Nice To Haves

Hands-on experience with automation platforms and high-throughput assay development.
Hands-on experience in biochemical characterization of saccharides and oligo-saccharides.
Hands-on experience in synthetic biology techniques, protein expression platforms, protein purification.
Experience in protein structure/function predictions, substrate docking, MD, AI-based protein engineering tools and services.
Experience in biofuels research.

Responsibilities

Spend 50-75% of their time to build and conduct wet-lab experiments to characterize enzyme activity and perform qualitative and quantitative analysis of substrates and products via biochemical assays.
Be a subject matter expert in key enzymes of interest through review of literature and patents and will make recommendations to guide research accordingly.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to discover improved enzyme sequences through a combination of sequence, structural, and/or computational methods.
Participate in maintaining equipment, consumables, inventory, and safe practices, will write detailed SOPs, will maintain detailed records in Benchling, and will manage large data sets.
Frequently update teams (typically through concise presentations) and will show aptitude for communicating and creating meaningful team interactions.
Promote safety initiatives and champion compliance with BP’s Code of Conduct.