Scientist / Senior Scientist, tLNP Formulation and Delivery

Job description

## About us Basecamp Research is building frontier AI for therapeutic design. We believe the future of medicine lies in reprogramming the body to repair itself, and we design the models and the medicines to teach it how. Our EDEN models are trained on BaseData, the world's largest proprietary genomic dataset, with over 10B genes collected through partnerships in more than 30 countries across all seven continents. This gives our AI models access to genetic diversity that doesn't exist in public databases, and enables EDEN to design cell and gene therapies, enzymes, and peptides directly from information about a disease. Our pipeline of EDEN-designed therapeutics, beginning with in vivo cell therapy, is advancing towards clinical development. In September 2026 we closed an oversubscribed $140M Series C led by S32, with participation from NVIDIA, Anthropic's Anthology Fund, Catalio, European Tech Collective, Firebrand River Capital, King Philanthropies, NATO Innovation Fund, NVentures (NVIDIA's venture arm), Redalpine, Rockefeller Foundation, Singular, Sovereign AI and True Ventures. We have offices and labs in London and Boston, we partner with biopharma companies and academic institutions worldwide, and our work has been recognised by Fast Company's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Biotech, the FT-backed Sifted AI100 list of Europe's leading AI startups as well as Barclays Eagle Labs Ones to watch, AI100. At Basecamp Research, we pride ourselves on being a lean collaborative and global team with extremely specialist and unique skills. Our biologists, engineers, ML scientists and field explorers are united by a sense of adventure and the belief that AI, biology and data, will result in new medicines for patients who have few options today. ## The Role We are seeking a highly capable and proactive Scientist / Senior Scientist, tLNP Formulation and Delivery to join our Boston, MA team. This role reports to the Head of Gene Editing and Early Discovery and owns the end-to-end design, formulation, bioconjugation, and physicochemical characterization of novel targeted lipid nanoparticles (tLNPs). You will partner closely with our cell biology team to validate targeting and cellular uptake of AI-designed genetic medicines, while serving as the primary technical interface for in vivo studies — central to our strategy of achieving extrahepatic tissue tropism for next-generation gene and cell therapies. This is a lab-based role requiring on-site presence at our Boston, MA facility every working day. ## Key Responsibilities - **LNP technology development:** Develop targeted LNP technology to enable extrahepatic tissue tropism for next-generation genetic medicines. - **tLNP formulation design:** Design and execute tLNP formulations encapsulating nucleic acid payloads (e.g., mRNA, DNA, sgRNA, etc.), systematically altering lipid ratios, ionizable lipid structures, and helper components to drive extrahepatic tissue tropism. - **Lipid synthesis:** be able to direct third party CRO’s to synthesize lipids of interest. - **Bioconjugation:** Perform hands-on surface modifications and bioconjugation chemistries to attach targeting moieties (antibodies, VHHs/nanobodies, peptides) to LNP surfaces. - **LNP analytics:** Perform routine and advanced LNP analytics, including particle size/polydispersity (e.g., dynamic light scattering), zeta potential, encapsulation efficiency (e.g., RiboGreen assays), and other relevant conjugation/purity metrics for labeled ligands. - **Physicochemical characterization:** Perform physicochemical characterization of LNP formulations to support formulation optimization and quality assessment. - **In vitro assay development:** Partner with our cell biology team to develop, optimize, and execute in vitro assays (using flow cytometry/FACS, plate readers, and fluorescence/luminescence imaging) to evaluate target binding, receptor-mediated cellular uptake, endosomal escape, and functional cargo translation of candidate tLNPs. - **In vivo study design:** Partner with the innovation team to design robust in vivo biodistribution and pharmacokinetic (PK) studies to evaluate tLNP performance. - **Documentation:** Maintain detailed Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) records, author technical reports, generate patent disclosure data, and present findings to cross-functional scientific leadership. - **Cross-functional collaboration:** Collaborate across the cell biology, innovation, and computational/AI teams to relay formulation and in vitro/in vivo results that inform iterative design of AI-generated targeting ligands and payloads. ## Required Skills and Experience **Experience:** A PhD in biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, chemistry, pharmaceutical sciences, or a related field, with 1–2 years of relevant experience (Scientist) or 3+ years (Senior Scientist); an MSc with equivalent hands-on laboratory experience will also be considered. You have hands-on drug delivery foundations and thrive in an entrepreneurial, fast-moving environment. - **LNP assembly & bioconjugation:** Hands-on experience with LNP assembly platforms (microfluidic/NanoAssemblr, T mixing, or ethanol injection) and surface bioconjugation techniques to functionalize nanoparticles with targeting moieties. - **Tropism engineering:** Demonstrated understanding and experience in shifting nanoparticle biodistribution/tropism through lipid compositional tweaking, molar ratio modification, or structural lipid alteration. - **LNP analytical techniques:** Experience with LNP analytical techniques such as DLS, encapsulation assays, etc. - **Hands-on LNP experience:** Hands-on experience with targeted LNPs or LNPs and conjugation of biomaterials. ## Advantageous Skills and Experience - **High-Throughput Screening:** Experience with automated or high-throughput liquid-handling platforms for formulation screening. - **DoE Software:** Practical knowledge of Design of Experiments (DoE) software (e.g., JMP) for systematic LNP optimization. - **AI-Guided Formulation:** Interest or prior experience collaborating with computational/ML teams on AI-guided formulation or targeting-ligand design. - **Peptide-Based Targeting Ligands:** Familiarity with peptide-based targeting ligands or peptide bioconjugation chemistries, given Basecamp's AI-generated peptide design capabilities. - **LNP Scale-Up:** Experience with scaling up LNPs is a definite plus. - **Ownership & Drive:** High degree of ownership over your work. You care about outcomes and reliably follow through on tasks and take pride in delivering quality results. ## What we offer in return - **Dynamic Field:** The opportunity to be a key member in an exciting, dynamic, and fast-moving field. - **Vibrant Location:** A fun, flexible, and supportive work environment in the heart of Kendall Square, with close connections to the London office and an emphasis on collaboration and personal development. - **Impactful Mission:** This is a rare opportunity to do work that genuinely matters. You'll join a talented, fast-moving team, access unique biological datasets at scale, and see your contributions shape real breakthroughs in AI and curative therapeutics. - **Collaborative Culture:** You'll be surrounded by world-class engineers, scientists, and researchers who care deeply about their work and about each other. With offices in Boston and London, we've built a flexible, cross-functional environment where personal development and real ownership aren't just talking points. - **High Growth:** We truly believe in investing our top talent, we make coaching available to team members during steep growth journeys and we have twice yearly promotion opportunities. People who are really successful here own it and go directly to solve problems at pace and we ensure reward increases with impact. - **Comprehensive Benefits:** We've built a benefits package people value. That means competitive salary, equity, and healthcare so strong that most employees' family members opt into our plan over their own. We also offer Carrot Fertility with IVF stipend, 401(k), life insurance, and more. Salary depends on skills, experience, and level (Scientist vs. Senior Scientist) - $110K - $165K base. ## Apply for the job Do you want to join our team as our new Scientist / Senior Scientist, tLNP Formulation and Delivery? Then we'd love to hear about you! We are committed to equal opportunity employment regardless of ethnic or national origin, race, religion, sex, age, citizenship, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, gender identity or any other basis. If you have a disability or additional need that needs accommodating do let us know.