Research Scientist/Engineer 1

University of Washington Medical Center•Seattle, WA

5d•$748,800 - $1,008,000

About The Position

The Institute for Protein Design (IPD) at the University of Washington is a collaborative research center focused on designing proteins for applications in medicine, technology, and sustainability. This position is based in the King Lab, an interdisciplinary environment working across computational and wet-lab protein design with biomedical applications. The Research Scientist will support a project developing next-generation chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapies. The work focuses on augmenting CAR-T cell cytotoxic machinery by developing de novo miniprotein inhibitors of tumor-specific enzymes. The project aims to produce a clinical product for testing in first-in-human clinical trials within the UW Cancer Consortium. The position works closely with graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, staff scientists, and collaborating laboratories.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry, Biology, or a related field and one year of relevant experience; equivalent education and/or experience may substitute for minimum qualifications except where legal requirements apply.
Hands-on experience with standard molecular biology techniques, including cloning, PCR, and mutagenesis.
Hands-on experience with protein biochemistry, including expression, purification, and quantification.
Strong scientific problem-solving skills and ability to multitask.
Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and ability to maintain clear records.
Collaborative mindset and desire to work in a fast-paced, interdisciplinary research environment.
Hands-on experience handling CAR-T cells or native T cells, including production, culture, and in vitro cytotoxicity assays.

Nice To Haves

At least two years of prior experience in an academic or biotechnology research laboratory.
Experience with biophysical characterization techniques such as SPR and BLI.
Familiarity with structural biology methods.
Experience with the Protein Data Bank (PDB) and/or AlphaFold 3.

Responsibilities

Perform recombinant protein expression in bacterial and/or mammalian systems and purify de novo designed miniprotein inhibitors.
Assist in developing a high-throughput, cell-based assay for screening miniprotein libraries.
Engineer CAR-T cells and assess their viability and in vitro cytotoxicity.
Conduct biophysical and biochemical assays to characterize protein-protein interactions, including SPR/BLI.
Support structural biology efforts, including sample preparation for X-ray crystallography and/or cryo-EM, in coordination with the IPD Research Core Laboratories.
Assist with literature and Protein Data Bank (PDB) mining to catalogue relevant structures and binding-partner data.
Maintain accurate, organized laboratory records and notebooks, and contribute to data-management and reproducibility standards.
Assist with data analysis, figure preparation, and presentation of results at lab meetings.
Prepare reagents and buffers and maintain general laboratory operations.
Perform other duties as assigned to support the research program.