Staff Scientist, Biolistics

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Job Summary

The Kornfield Lab at the California Institute of Technology is looking for a Staff Scientist, Biolistics to join a research and clinical translation effort to develop scientific knowledge and technologies to impact human health, in particular improving human vision through ocular drug delivery.

The Staff Scientist, Biolistics will work with the PI to execute research on the delivery of therapeutic particles to the cornea. The position will support the PI through the iterative improvement of a pneumatic particle delivery device, development, and implementation of methods to characterize particle delivery, preparation of scientific manuscripts, preparation of provisional and full patent applications, acquisition of research funding, and personnel recruitment and training. The successful candidate will have independence, creativity, and drive to advance the frontiers of knowledge, to develop new biomedical technologies, to benefit human health, and to mentor the next generation of researchers.

Essential Job Duties

Biolistic Responsibilities:

• Maintain and improve state-of-the-art therapeutic particle delivery tools, including mechanical, optical, and electronic components.
• Collaborate with students and postdocs in the lab and with external collaborators to achieve safe, reproducible delivery of therapeutic particles to the cornea.
• Collaborate with students and postdocs in the lab and with external collaborators to characterize the number and spatial distribution of particles delivered to the cornea.
• Collaborate with students and postdocs in the lab and with external collaborators to characterize the response of the cornea to biolistic particles.
• Collaborate with students and postdocs in the lab and with external collaborators to achieve statistically significant results for the residence time distributions of particles in the cornea.
• Ensure that research data are properly organized, documented, and stored.
• Train students and postdocs to perform particle delivery to gels and biological tissues.
• Work with Caltech OTTCP to file provisional patent applications and patent applications.
• Work with Caltech OLAR to ensure protocols are kept up to date and approved.

Group Research Roles:

• Assist with the execution of research in the laboratory to enable timely accomplishment of research goals.
• Assist students and postdocs with project design and execution, implementation, and troubleshooting.
• Assist students and postdocs in identifying and engaging internal and external resources to facilitate project execution.
• Along with the PI and members of the lab team, assist with the preparation of the technical sections of grant proposals following the directions established by the PI.
• Has the opportunity to co-author and/or write journal articles, procedural guides, or manuals; has the opportunity to present research work at seminars and conferences.
• Assist with generating data for and preparing grant proposals, grant reports, patents, and publications.
• Assist the PI in recruitment, evaluation, and training of research personnel, including students and postdocs.
• Serve as the lab's technical expert in optical coherence tomography (OCT) and maintain OCT equipment within the lab.

Basic Qualifications

General Qualifications:

• Ph.D. in bioengineering, chemical engineering, or related field.
• At least one year of post-doctoral experience.
• A record of independent research accomplishments.
• Broad, interdisciplinary mindset along with flexibility and willingness to continue learning.
• Ability to do rigorous research, including thoughtful study design with appropriate controls and appropriate analysis methods.
• Effective technical communication skills, including scientific writing and data visualization.
• Experience managing project deliverables for multiple concurrent projects involving multiple collaborators.
• Experience training and supervising junior colleagues leading to positive outcomes in colleagues' education and accomplishments.
• Knowledge of laboratory safety practices in relation to chemical, biological, optical, mechanical, and electrical hazards.
• Strong critical-thinking skills.
• Excellent fact-based decision-making skills.
• Ability to solve complex problems.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
• Must be self-motivated, take initiative, and lead; must be able to work independently.
• Excellent communication skills, both oral and written.
• Excellent interpersonal skills. Able to work with a diverse and interdisciplinary group of researchers and external collaborators.
• A strong desire to collaborate with and mentor the next generation of researchers.

Biolistic Qualifications:

• Strong skills in the design, prototyping, fabrication, and testing of new pneumatic systems that combine mechanical, optical, and electrical components, preferably tailored to drug delivery to soft tissues in vivo.
• Drive innovative characterization methods for particle delivery, including custom software development for quantitative analysis of the spatial distribution and three-dimensional particle mapping in the cornea.
• Strong organizational and communication skills for successful execution of collaborative preclinical experiments.
• Optical coherence tomography image acquisition and analysis to determine the three-dimensional distribution of particles in soft tissues, preferably the cornea.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with corneal drug delivery in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo models
• Experience in rapid prototyping of pneumatic systems that integrate optical components, including using CAD software (e.g., SolidWorks, AutoCAD) for design and fabrication.
• Experience with clinical device design in ophthalmology and translating prototypes to preclinical studies.
• Expertise in integrating optical coherence tomography (OCT) with biolistic delivery systems for monitoring particle dynamics in in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo models.
• Proficiency in Python, with the ability to develop scripts for data analysis and automation (data analysis pipeline development), preferably applied to quantitative image analysis.
• Strong familiarity with preclinical testing methodologies, including protocol development, data collection, and analysis.
• Experience in preparing and successfully submitting grant proposals, contributing to successful funding of projects.
• Contributions to intellectual property generation, including co-authoring provisional and full patent applications, preferably related to biolistic technologies.

Required Documents

• CV.