Research Associate or Associate Scientist, Genome Engineer

Experience level: Masters, PhD or equivalent experience.

About Conception

Conception is pioneering the future of reproductive biology by generating functional human eggs from induced pluripotent stem cells. Our mission is to unlock new possibilities for fertility, reproductive health, and genetic diversity. We are building a world-class team at the intersection of stem cell biology, developmental biology, and synthetic biology to make this vision a reality.

The position

• We are seeking a highly organized, rigorous, and hands-on Research Associate or Associate Scientist with strong experience in genome and cell engineering to help build tools that enhance Conception’s differentiation platform. In this role, you will generate engineered cell lines, including reporter lines, knock-out and knock-in lines, and overexpression lines to enable better tracking, control, and optimization of differentiation systems.

• This position sits at the intersection of genome engineering, stem cell biology, assay development, and differentiation platform development. You will be responsible for designing, building and validating robust engineered cell systems using CRISPR-based approaches, DNA-integrating expression systems, and constitutive or inducible transgene expression platforms. The ideal candidate has strong hands-on experience with mammalian cell engineering, tissue culture, careful clonal line generation, molecular validation, and expression tracking, and is excited to apply these tools to complex differentiation systems.

What you’ll do

• Build engineered cell lines to support Conception’s differentiation platform, including reporter lines, knock-out lines, knock-in lines, and overexpression lines.

• Use CRISPR-based genome engineering approaches to design, generate, screen, and validate edited cell lines.

• Develop DNA-integrating expression systems for constitutive and inducible transgene expression during differentiation.

• Optimize workflows for transfection, transduction, selection, clonal isolation, expansion, genotyping, and expression validation. Build assays to track reporter activity, transgene expression, silencing, differentiation state, and biological outcomes.

• Support differentiation experiments using engineered lines to monitor and improve cell fate transitions. Collaborate across differentiation, organoid, cell engineering, and computational teams.

What we’re looking for

Required

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, Stem Cell Biology, Bioengineering, Genetics, Synthetic Biology, Developmental Biology, or a related field, or equivalent experience.

• Hands-on experience with mammalian cell culture and cell engineering workflows.

• Experience with CRISPR genome engineering, including knock-out, knock-in, or reporter line generation. Experience designing, generating, screening, and validating engineered cell lines using molecular and functional assays.

• Experience with DNA delivery or integrating expression systems such as plasmid transfection, viral transduction, PiggyBac, Sleeping Beauty, lentiviral systems, or related approaches.

• Experience with standard validation and readout assays such as PCR, genotyping, sequencing, flow cytometry, imaging, qPCR, reporter assays, or immunostaining.

• Strong experimental execution, troubleshooting, documentation, organization, and data interpretation skills.

Preferred

• Experience with iPSCs, ESCs, primary cells, differentiating cells.

• Experience building reporter lines to track gene expression, cell state, or differentiation.

• Experience with inducible expression systems, constitutive expression systems, promoter testing, or transgene expression optimization.

• Experience assessing or troubleshooting transgene silencing during extended culture or differentiation.

• Experience with CRISPRa, CRISPRi, dCas9-based systems, or other gene modulation approaches.

• Familiarity with stem cell differentiation, developmental biology, reproductive biology, germ cell development, ovarian biology, or organoid systems.

Come and work with us

We are well funded and well connected in Silicon Valley. We offer competitive pay, company equity, and excellent healthcare benefits for these positions. ‍

To learn more about the original mouse proof of concept to live birth that inspired us, see https://www.nature.com/articles/nature20104