Compound Discovery Technician

Bactobio is a London based biotechnology company on a mission to harness the potential in previously unexplored microbes. Our ambition is to culture and screen previously uncultured organisms to help solve some of humanity's greatest challenges, starting with the discovery of new antibiotic compounds to tackle the growing antimicrobial resistance crisis.

Role:

In this role, you will facilitate the discovery and identification of novel metabolites and support our
vision to discover solutions to global issues, including the discovery of new antibiotics against
resistant bacteria and fungicides to help global food security. You will have exposure to our company
pipeline which spans from microbe isolation from soil through to compound structure elucidation.
We will provide training in high-throughput screening, liquid handling automation, data analysis, and
much more. In return, we are looking for open-minded, interdisciplinary scientists to accelerate our
compound discovery efforts.

Team:

Our compound discovery team consists of analytical chemists and microbiologists who work closely
with bioinformaticians and data scientists to collect the highest quality data for analysis. Together, we
have built a database and bioinformatics pipeline that have informed our experiments to culture over
1,800 previously unexplored microbial species. Our compound discovery team work on characterising
the novel compounds these microbes produce using liquid handling robotics, design of experiment
procedures and fermentation techniques.

Facilities:

Bactobio has over 300 sqm of laboratory space with high-end equipment spanning microbiology
through to analytical chemistry. Within compound discovery, this includes a dedicated analytical
chemistry suite with multiple mass spectrometers, HPLCs and high-throughput plate readers, as well as
an automation suite with bioreactors, a flow cytometer and liquid handling machines.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Validation of hits through high throughput screening assays
• Supporting the screening platform of microbial isolates for hit generation
• Preparation of samples across the pipeline, driving throughput
• Supporting the compound discovery team in the discovery and identification of novel
metabolites
• Ownership of project(s) and upskilling in various areas of the Bactobio pipeline

You should have:

• A Master’s degree or above in chemistry or life sciences, or a BSc in chemistry or life
sciences plus equivalent experience
• Experience in culturing a range of microbes with good aseptic practice
• Experience running liquid or solid bioassays on reporter strains
• Experience in extraction methods for metabolites
• Interest in biotechnology and enthusiasm for scientific discovery
• Ability to work independently as well as within a team

It would be great if you have:

• Experience working in industry
• Experience in analytical techniques for the separation of small molecules or proteins
• Background in natural product chemistry

Benefits include:

• Competitive starting salary
• 25 days holiday + bank holidays
• Pension plan
• Diverse team of colleagues
• Weekly team activities including board games, sports activities, and socials on Fridays
• Complementary breakfast, fruit, tea, coffee, snacks, drinks,…
• Access to 1000s of training courses through Udemy, with an allowance for both personal development and work-related training
• Opportunity to use your skills to help shape our innovative platform