Scientist, Antibody Discovery & Characterization

Ginkgo Bioworks Inc. • MA

95d

About The Position

Our mission is to make biology easier to engineer. Ginkgo is constructing, editing, and redesigning the living world in order to answer the globe’s growing challenges in health, energy, food, materials, and more. Our bioengineers make use of an in-house automated foundry for designing and building new organisms. We are seeking a creative and experienced Scientist with a strong background in bispecific and multi-specific antibody engineering to join our Antibody Developability team. This individual will be a key contributor to the design, production, and in-depth characterization of novel therapeutic antibody formats, including IgGs, VHHs and scFv-based constructs. The ideal candidate will leverage their expertise in protein engineering and state-of-the-art developability assays and play a critical role in advancing our high-throughput antibody developability platform, PROPHET-Ab.

Requirements

• Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Immunology, Bioengineering, or a related field with 0-2 years of industry/academic experience (or M.S. with 6+ years or B.S. with 8+ years of relevant experience).
• Deep expertise in the design, engineering, expression, and characterization of complex protein formats, with a demonstrated track record working with bispecific or multi-specific antibodies.
• Demonstrated proficiency in antibody developability assessment using multiple biophysical techniques (e.g., DSF, DLS, SEC, HIC, AC-SINS, Polyreactivity).
• Extensive hands-on expertise with SPR (e.g., Biacore) or BLI (e.g., Octet) for quantitative analysis of complex binding interactions, such as simultaneous binding of bispecifics.
• Proven ability to independently lead projects and contribute to experimental design.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to thrive in a highly collaborative, multidisciplinary environment.

Nice To Haves

• Industry experience in therapeutic antibody discovery and development.
• Experience with or exposure to computational tools for antibody discovery, including the use of AI/ML models for in silico developability prediction or sequence optimization.
• Familiarity with high-throughput expression, purification, and screening techniques.
• Knowledge of antibody display platforms (e.g., phage, yeast) or other discovery methods is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and engineering of novel antibody formats, including bispecific and multi-specific constructs, to optimize for function and developability.
• Develop and execute workflows for the production (transfection, expression) and purification of complex antibody formats.
• Design and implement a wide range of biophysical and functional assays to evaluate antibody binding, stability, and activity, with a focus on challenges unique to bi/multi-specifics, VHHs, and scFvs.
• Develop methods for developability assessments for novel antibody formats (such as bi/multi-specifics), as well as binding kinetics (SPR/BLI), and functional cell-based assays.
• Provide technical leadership and hands-on expertise to troubleshoot expression, purification, and analytical challenges associated with novel formats.
• Contribute to scientific strategy, innovation, and the continuous improvement of our developability assessment platform.
• Mentor and guide junior scientists.
• Author technical reports, SOPs, and present findings to internal leadership and external customers.

What This Job Offers