Plant Pathologist, Biocontrol

at Ginkgo Bioworks Inc.

California, United States

Our mission is to make biology easier to engineer. Ginkgo is constructing, editing, and redesigning the living world in order to answer the globe’s growing challenges in health, energy, food, materials, and more. Our bioengineers make use of an in-house automated foundry for designing and building new organisms.

As a successful candidate, you will be a member of Ginkgo’s Agriculture Business Unit (AgBU) Division, located in West Sacramento, CA. Ginkgo is seeking a highly motivated Plant Pathologist with extensive experience working with plant pathogens and biologicals. The role requires experience in isolation, pure culturing, and maintenance of fungal, Oomycetes and bacterial plant pathogens, as well as experience in screening biologicals, natural product chemistry (NPC), and small molecules (SM) against plant pathogens both in vitro and in planta. You will work collaboratively on cross-functional teams to design, develop, and test microbial strains and compounds against plant pathogens, aiming to identify those with enhanced efficacy, stability, and residual activity. Responsibilities include maintaining pathogen cultures, producing pathogen inoculums for in vitro and in planta screenings, and developing and executing assays (In-vitro and In-planta) for screening biologicals, NPC, and SM against plant pathogens.

As a member of Ginkgo’s AgBU, you will leverage your strategic thinking and analytical skills to drive projects to key decision-making points and ensure the team’s short-, medium-, and long-term goals are achieved. With your passion for Ginkgo’s mission and your ability to adapt and thrive in fast-paced environments, you will be a critical contributor to the success of Ginkgo as a whole.

• The position will be part of the Plant Science Function in Ginkgo’s AgBU
• This position will be based at our West Sacramento, CA site and may require 10-15% travel.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical expertise on mycology and oversight for maintaining and producing pathogen inoculums for in vitro and in planta screenings.
• Develop advanced, reliable, and reproducible in planta assays to screen biologicals, natural product chemistry, antimicrobial proteins/peptides, and small molecules against bacterial, fungal, and Oomycetes plant pathogens.
• Conduct in vitro and in planta experiments under controlled environment to support ongoing and future crop protection programs.
• Accurately, collect, analyze, interpret and document the experimental results.
• Continuously identify new technologies and experimental methods for in-house work or collaboration. Build and maintain relationships with external experts and service providers
• Work closely with the Crop Protection Biology team manager on advancing and expanding the Disease Control screening platform.
• Represent the Crop Protection Biology team in cross-functional, departmental, and program meetings as a technical expert.
• Actively participate in team meetings to develop and implement strategies for meeting project milestones/deliverables.
• Prepare Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all assays and activities being developed.
• Ensure the functionality of all lab equipment and supplies for Crop Protection Biology related activities.

Minimum Requirements

• Ph.D. in Plant Pathology with minimum 2-3 years of relevant experience
• MS with minimum of 8 years relevant experience
• BS with minimum of 10 years relevant experience
• Required relevant experience is defined as:
  • Scientific Background: Strong background in mycology and plant pathology, with hands-on experience in the isolation, identification, and pure culturing of bacterial, fungal, and oomycete pathogens. Additional experience with insect control is highly desirable.
  • Experience Required: Extensive experience in developing and screening in vitro and in planta assays for biologicals against plant pathogens.
  • Desirable Skills: Strong data analytical and statistical skills with experience in translating laboratory studies to field environments.

Total compensation for this role is market driven, with a starting salary of $85,400 (minimum of range) +, as well as company stock awards.  Base pay is ultimately determined based on a candidate's skills, expertise, and experience.  We also offer a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental & vision coverage, health spending accounts, voluntary benefits, leave of absence policies, Employee Assistance Program, 401(k) program with employer contribution, 8 paid holidays in addition to a full-week winter shutdown and unlimited Paid Time Off policy.

To learn more about Ginkgo, visit www.ginkgobioworks.com/press/ or check out some curated press below:

• What is it really like to take your company public via a SPAC? One Boston biotech shares its journey (Fortune)
• Ginkgo Bioworks resizes the definition of going big in biotech, raising $2.5B in a record SPAC deal that weighs in with a whopping $15B-plus valuation (Endpoints News)
• Ginkgo Bioworks CEO on scaling up Covid-19 testing: ‘If we try, we can win’ (CNBC)
• Ginkgo raises $70 million to ramp up COVID-19 testing for employers, universities (Boston Globe)
• Ginkgo Bioworks Redirects Its Biotech Platform to Coronavirus (Wall Street Journal)
• Ginkgo Bioworks Provides Support on Process Optimization to Moderna for COVID-19 Response (PRNewswire)
• The Life Factory: Synthetic Organisms From This $1.4 Billion Startup Will Revolutionize Manufacturing (Forbes)
• Synthetic Bio Pioneer Ginkgo Raises $290 Million in New Funding (Bloomberg)
• Ginkgo Bioworks raises $350 million fund for biotech spinouts (Reuters)
• Can This Company Convince You to Love GMOs? (The Atlantic)

We also feel that it’s important to point out the obvious here – there’s a serious lack of diversity in our industry, and that needs to change. Our goal is to help drive that change. Ginkgo is deeply committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all of its practices, especially when it comes to growing our team. Our culture promotes inclusion and embraces how rewarding it is to work with people from all walks of life.  

We’re developing a powerful biological engineering platform, so we must remain mindful of the many ways our technology can – and will – impact people around the world. We care about how our platform is used, and having a diverse team to build it gives us the best chance that it’s something we’ll be proud of as it continues to grow. Therefore, it’s critical that we incorporate the diverse voices and visions of all those who play a role in the future of biology.

It is the policy of Ginkgo Bioworks to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees, employment applicants, and EOE disability/vet.

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