Introduction 

Are you motivated by the prospect of applying your theoretical knowledge and experimental excellence to real-world biology challenges? Join our team of talented scientists and engineers and help us to tackle some of society’s biggest sustainability challenges and develop the future of the Bioeconomy! 

At Cambridge Consultants, we have placed ourselves at the cutting edge of biotechnology, as we pursue some of the most exciting and ground-breaking opportunities at the intersection of biology, engineering, and AI.

We are now looking for a committed and enthusiastic Biologist to join our bio laboratory team and help drive this work forward. With current domain knowledge in microbiology and molecular biology tools and techniques, you will help drive developments in areas such as industrial biotechnology, synthetic biology, protein engineering and metabolic engineering. You will tackle a wide range of challenges, and you will be at the forefront of ground-breaking, innovative biological solutions.

This is an initial 12 month contract, and the ideal candidate would be available to join in January – February 2025. 

Your role

As a Biologist, with lots of support and guidance, you will be an integral part of the team carrying out work in our bio laboratories.  You will provide specialist technical experience and expertise within our project teams to ensure our biology projects are executed efficiently and to the highest quality.

This role will involve both practical and desk-based work on a wide range of projects, applying microbiology and molecular biology expertise at the core of solutions for our clients. You will work closely with multidisciplinary teams to define and execute technical programmes which inform product and system design and answer the wider commercial objectives of the project.

The projects we work on are highly diverse and you will combine your existing skills and knowledge with an appetite to rapidly identify and assimilate whatever new information is necessary to solve the problem at hand.

Your responsibilities

• Collaborate with a global team of engineers, physicists and biologists to solve complex, multidisciplinary challenges
• Independently perform microbiology and molecular biology tasks such as growing and handling of microbial cells, nucleic acid extractions, PCR, enzymatic assays, DNA assembly and genome editing
• Plan and execute experiments, with guidance & direction from team members
• Keep accurate and detailed records of experiments, and analyse and present results and conclusions clearly. 
• As part of the team, you’ll contribute to maintaining smooth laboratory operations and share management responsibilities. This includes:
  • Provide and promote lab-based support for operational excellence
  • Preparing media, buffer, reagents, samples, and media using aseptic techniques
  • Further develop protocols and techniques

Your experience

We are looking for candidates with an excellent degree in biotechnology, microbiology, molecular biology or closely related discipline. In addition, you will have: 

• A broad understanding of a wide range of biology principles, and an ability to identify their applicability to a variety of technical challenges
• A desire to apply biology to real-world technology developments.
• An enjoyment of hands-on practical science, as most of the work will be carried out in a laboratory environment
• Demonstrable skills and hands-on experience across a wide range of laboratory techniques related to microbiology and molecular biology. These should include at least 1-2 example within the below categories:
  • Culturing and handling microbial cells (bacteria, yeast, or fungi)
  • Common molecular and synthetic biology techniques (e.g. PCR, gel electrophoresis, DNA assembly, molecular cloning, gene editing tools)
  • Techniques used to characterise nucleic acids and proteins (e.g. purification, quantification, sequencing)
  • Cell or enzymatic assay development (e.g. colorimetric assays, fluorometric assays, growth assays)

Experience in microbial fermentation, bioinformatics, lab automation, experimental design, analytical chemistry, and cell culture would also be valuable. However, this is not required, and we encourage all interested candidates to apply regardless of experience in these additional areas.