Website Helaina, Inc.
Helaina is a team brought together by the belief that health and developmental outcomes of all infants can be improved through nutritional options closest to breast milk. Our team is revolutionizing the infant nutrition space by developing a food product meant to uniquely support babies in their earliest stages. Helaina’s R&D ecosystem harnesses the power of naturally occurring biological processes in tandem with modern advances in the space of synthetic biology, fermentation, and improved industrial processing. We are a fast-paced startup looking for our next team member who is intensely passionate about advancing synthetic biology for food and beverage products.
In this role, you will work in our NYC lab to support all experiments performed by the Bioprocess team. The successful candidate will be a hands-on, motivated self-starter with a strong sense of initiative. You will be responsible for supporting fermentation experiments in bioreactors as the company’s team and equipment availability grows. This is an excellent opportunity for someone who is hungry to work in a startup environment and ready to do the best work of your career.
Responsibilities:
- Support upstream fermentation and downstream for process development, characterization and optimization
- Hands-on operation and monitoring of lab scale bioreactor experiments, including, but not limited to setup, sterilization, process parameter monitoring, feed control, and cleanup
- Hands-on operation of protein purification processes including but no limited to, filtration, protein precipitation, chromatography
- Perform aseptic cell culture techniques for small scale and bioreactor cell culture work under BSL2 conditions or with a Bunsen burner
- Perform routine analytical work (i.e. SDS-PAGE, Western Blots, BCA, etc.)
- Collaborates closely with strain engineering and analytical teams to progress process optimization
- Keep a highly detailed lab notebook and documentation
- Maintain lab: prepare buffers, maintain equipment, upkeep of the reagent and consumables inventory, glassware sterilization
Desired Qualifications:
- B.S. degree in Chemical/Biochemical Engineering or equivalent with 1-3 years of industry and/or academic experience
- Hands on experience for upstream process development and bioreactor operation
- Experience with aseptic techniques for maintenance of microbial cell cultures
- Good laboratory practices including organized data documentation and presentation, attention to detail, and ability to follow protocols
- Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively in a team environment to deliver high-quality, consistent data in a timely manner
- Excellent oral and written communication skills; extremely organized, has high attention to detail
- Ability to support experiments after hours and on weekends (when required)
- Willingness to learn and be flexible, focused, enthusiastic, process-oriented and highly motivated
- Energetic, creative, and personally motivated by the future of food and/or biological products
Bonus Points:
- Prior start-up experience
Helaina is an Equal Opportunity Employer
For more information, please contact careers@myhelaina.com
