E11 Bio - Scientist/Senior Scientist, Molecular Engineering & Sample Optimization

About the role

E11 Bio is seeking a mission-aligned experimental scientist to own both optimizing the physical preparation of the tissue and engineering the reagent panels across two target types: comprehensive synapse identification and barcode epitopes. Reporting to the Barcoding Lead, you will define what high-quality tissue means quantitatively and will drive the improvement of high quality morphology and protein readout by working closely with molecular biology, imaging, and computational teams to support whole-brain connectomics.

Responsibilities

• Develop and deploy an assay to systematically evaluate and improve the fixation quality and preservation of brain tissue
• Establish and integrate quantitative metrics of molecular readout (e.g., protein retention, antigenicity, and labeling quality) across tissue preparation conditions
• Work closely with in vivo research technicians to design experiments, evaluate results, and optimize SOPs
• Drive the development of data-analysis pipelines to routinely generate key performance indicators of sample tissue quality
• Generate an in-house pipeline for binder design/discovery, validation, and optimization of epitope-binder pairs in hydrogels to improve the readout of epitope barcode bits and relevant native synaptic proteins
• Develop novel highly multiplexed protein readout strategies for protein barcodes and molecular annotation of synapses and cell types

Outcomes

• In the first 6 Months
  • Defined key indicators for perfusion quality and deployed an assay to routinely capture these
  • Incorporated protein retention, antigenicity, and specificity as per-stage metrics across the sample generation pipeline
  • Deployed early perfusion or fixed tissue readout metrics that predict the final expanded tissue quality, including both overall preservation and specific markers of cellular health
  • Recorded a measurable >20% improvement in expanded ultrastructural image contrast compared to current baseline perfusion & gelation protocol
  • First new epitope-binder designs in production
  • Developed assay for binder compatibility in expanded tissue, and validated this assay against existing pairs
  • Identified and validated a cocktail of binders for identifying most synapses (e.g., via synaptic vesicle binding)
• In 12 Months
  • Evaluated the first set of designed epitope-binder pairs and synaptic protein-binder pairs and qualified in expanded tissue; 5+ binders exceeding commercial state-of-the-art performance
  • With collaborators, improved the multiplexed readout strategy to allow for routine incorporation into the imaging pipeline and demonstrated an increase in key barcode metrics (e.g., imaging speed or entropy increases)
  • Identified and validated multiple cocktails of binders for stratifying excitatory and inhibitory synapses

Pay

Scientist base salary range: $100,000 – $165,000 a year

Senior Scientist base salary range: $127,000 – $191,000 a year

This position is eligible for a team performance-based bonus up to 20% of base salary and a 401k match up to 6% of base salary.

Total potential compensation range: $126,000 – $240,000