Operations Engineer 2, Ngs

Ginkgo's Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) group enables diverse synthetic biology projects by providing sequencing services to organism engineering teams. Our services include DNA and RNA sequencing using short read (Illumina) and long read (PacBio and Oxford Nanopore) platforms. We confirm synthetic constructs, genomic edits, and expression profiles of engineered organisms. We help develop the next generation of therapeutics in RNA and gene therapy. We support Ginkgo’s Biosecurity efforts by sequencing viruses to monitor their evolution.

As an Operations Engineer in our NGS group, you will empower Ginkgo’s organism engineers with high-quality and high-throughput DNA/RNA extraction, DNA/RNA sequencing, SARS-CoV-2 sequencing and viral RNA sequencing services. By adding your own expertise to an interdisciplinary team of bench scientists, computational biologists, data scientists, and software engineers, your role will be critical to developing world-changing methods for engineering biology.

Responsibilities:

• Follow SOPs to perform sequencing workflows, including targeted sequencing of viral genomes for the Biosecurity platform.
• Keep current on latest developments and new SOPs by contributing to process improvement and SOP revision as well as participating in automation efforts.
• Assist in developing and operating new sequencing workflows for biosecurity and cell engineering across multiple NGS platforms.
• Contribute to a large team effort by participating in weekly stand-ups and quality meetings.
• Expand your abilities and the team’s capabilities by learning new skills.
• Maintain Ginkgo’s high standards for quality by maintaining laboratory notebooks, monitoring Quality Control results, and taking corrective action when necessary.
• Demonstrate excellence by troubleshooting issues and maintaining our high standards for quality.
• Be a team player by participating in general laboratory maintenance and other laboratory duties.
• Jump in and help with whatever is needed to get the job done!

Minimum Requirements:

• BS/MS in a relevant field of biological sciences and a minimum of 2 years experience.
• Experience with sequencing library preparation and quality control.
• Experience with RNA sequencing applications.
• Experience with PCR.
• Familiarity with high-throughput automation.
• Ability to work effectively in a cross-functional team environment.
• Flexibility and willingness to learn in a rapidly changing, growing organization.

Preferred Capabilities and Experience:

• Experience with at least one of the following sequencing platforms: Illumina, Oxford Nanopore, or Pacific Biosystems.
• Experience with DNA and RNA extraction from filamentous fungi and bacteria is a plus.
• Experience with qPCR / RT-qPCR troubleshooting is a plus.

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