Research Specialist / Scientist, Metabolic Phenotyping (In Vitro & In Vivo)

Altos Labs•Redwood City, CA

17d•$129,500 - $189,200

About The Position

Altos Labs is seeking a Research Specialist or Scientist to join their discovery team investigating the role of metabolism in aging and cellular rejuvenation. The role involves independently planning, executing, troubleshooting, and interpreting experiments across various models, from primary cell cultures to in vivo rodent systems. Techniques used include real-time measurements of cellular energetics, multi-omics sample generation, metabolic imaging, and whole-animal phenotyping. The successful candidate will formulate hypotheses, take ownership of experimental projects, seek guidance from senior colleagues, communicate findings clearly to diverse audiences, collaborate within the team, and maintain meticulous electronic laboratory notebook records for data rigor and reproducibility.

Requirements

PhD in molecular biology, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, or a related life-sciences discipline, with a research focus in metabolism, and typically 0–2 years of relevant experience post-PhD; OR Bachelor's degree in a related life-sciences discipline, with 8+ years of relevant hands-on industry research experience in metabolism.
Hands-on experience across both in vitro and in vivo workflows, including direct experience designing and executing in vivo rodent studies (e.g., animal handling, dosing, metabolic phenotyping, and tissue collection), with a strong background in Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) protocol compliance.
Experience preparing biological samples for downstream metabolomics, lipidomics, or genomics pipelines.
Demonstrated experience with immunofluorescence/immunohistochemistry staining and fluorescence, confocal, or high-content microscopy of cells or metabolic tissue sections.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to summarize, document, and present data clearly and to maintain rigorous ELN records.
Track record of working effectively both independently and as part of a collaborative, cross-functional team.

Nice To Haves

In vivo rodent experience specifically in preclinical metabolic disease models (e.g., obesity, diabetes, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis [MASH], or mitochondrial dysfunction).
Hands-on experience setting up, running, and analyzing data from Agilent Seahorse XF instruments (or equivalent extracellular-flux/respirometry platforms).
Experience with in vitro metabolic models such as hepatocytes, adipocytes, or myotubes, and with organoid or three-dimensional (3D) tissue culture.
Familiarity with high-content screening (HCS) platforms and automated image-analysis workflows in Python or another scripting-based approach.
Laboratory automation, flow cytometry (fluorescence-activated cell sorting, FACS), cell line engineering, and next-generation sequencing library preparation.
Active ALAT/LAT (laboratory animal technician) certification.

Responsibilities

Design and execute in vivo rodent metabolic studies in collaboration with the team, including animal handling, dosing (intraperitoneal, intravenous, oral), metabolic phenotyping (glucose- and insulin-tolerance tests, CLAMS for metabolic monitoring), and endpoint tissue collection optimized for multi-omics, bioenergetic, and histological analysis.
Perform immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry on cultured cells and metabolic tissues (e.g., liver, adipose, muscle), and operate fluorescence, confocal, or automated high-content imaging systems to visualize lipid droplets, mitochondrial morphology, and protein localization.
Design and execute metabolic flux assays on the Agilent Seahorse XF analyzer, and prepare cellular and tissue extracts for downstream mass spectrometry-based metabolomics and lipidomics and for genomics workflows (RNA/DNA isolation, quantitative PCR).
Analyze and interpret bioenergetic, imaging, and phenotyping data (Wave, ImageJ/FIJI, GraphPad Prism), drawing accurate conclusions that guide the next round of experiments.
Maintain primary metabolic cell cultures and develop, optimize, and scale the throughput of cell-based assays.
Document all work with accurate, timely records in the electronic laboratory notebook (ELN), and coordinate sample tracking and submissions with internal teams and external contract research organizations (CROs).
Communicate results clearly through written summaries and presentations, and contribute to manuscripts and conference presentations.
Collaborate across the discovery team to align in vitro mechanism-of-action findings with in vivo efficacy readouts.