YaliBio
About the start-up
Yali Bio is a biotechnology startup that is using precision fermentation to produce dairy fats for plant-based foods. Yeast strains are engineered and fermented to produce specific lipid profiles that mimic animal fats.
The Opportunity
The candidate will be working on strain engineering projects. Yali Bio’s core technology is based on engineering the metabolic pathways in proprietary yeast strains towards accumulating significant quantities of commercially interesting fats and lipids.
While the exact specifications of the candidate’s project are currently fluid, any project the candidate will be working on will involve manipulating the host organism to change the fatty acid composition of the accumulated lipids. Manipulation to change the fatty acid profile would impact the physicochemical properties of the accumulating fats and lipids.
The novel fats and lipids that Yali Bio will generate from these engineered strains will be used as ingredients in dairy and food applications. Yali Bio has milestone targets set up for the next 2 years, and the candidate’s projects will align with the workflow of the strain engineering team, and will facilitate the team reaching the target milestones.
Primary responsibilities
The primary responsibility of the candidate would be to engage with, contribute to and enhance the strain engineering team’s workflow.
The bulk of the candidate’s activities will involve
Designing new constructs expressing novel enzymes
Generate transgenic strains expressing these novel enzymatic activities
Screening the transgenic strains at the molecular and phenotypic level
Evaluating a subset of selected strains thoroughly to establish the impact of expressing the said novel enzymatic activities.
This workflow would require the candidate to interact well with the strain engineering team, the analytical chemistry team and the fermentation team.
About you
Since the primary focus of the project will be manipulating metabolic pathways in host organisms, the ideal candidate will have a good understanding of
Physiological pathways
Cell biology
Molecular genetics
Biochemistry
Pluses
With the focus of the project on molecular manipulation, candidates with prior experience working in labs, and a basic familiarity with routine techniques (PCR, cloning, etc) would be beneficial.
Hands-on experience in aseptic techniques, media formulation, and culturing microorganisms would be especially beneficial.
Looking for
Synthetic biology, fermentation or possibly bioinformatics/systems biology
Location
South San Francisco, California