Research Associate - Biotic Screening

Indigo improves grower profitability, environmental sustainability, and consumer health through the use of natural microbiology and digital technologies. Utilizing beneficial plant microbes and agronomic insights, Indigo works with growers to sustainably produce high quality harvests. The company then connects growers and buyers directly to bring these harvests to market. Working across the supply chain, Indigo is forwarding its mission of harnessing nature to help farmers sustainably feed the planet. The company is headquartered in Boston, MA, with additional offices in Memphis, TN, Research Triangle Park, NC, Sydney, Australia, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and São Paulo, Brazil. http://www.indigoag.com/      

The Research Associate - Biotic Screening will be responsible for organizing and performing assays to measure the efficacy of our microbes against various bacterial and fungal plant pathogens. Day-to-day activities include maintaining our pathogen collection and isolating new isolates from infected plant material. Preparing and optimizing pathogen inoculum. Creation, collection and curation of quality phenotypic data enabling product advancement decisions. Development of novel assays to efficiently identify effective microbes while ensuring biological relevance. Working across functions to coordinate the necessary up- and downstream processes required for a successful testing pipeline.   Job title and compensation will be in line with level of education and experience. 

Responsibilities:

• Make solutions and media necessary for growing healthy microbes and plants
• Organize screening activities to optimize throughput and data quality
• Collect and handle phenotypic data to support the capture of IP
• Work closely with the Disease team lead to develop and implement new assays
• Enable success of fellow research assistants through active mentoring and skill sharing
• Ensure compliance to all local, state, and federal regulations regarding the handling and devitalization of plant pests and other regulated microbes
• Participate in and contribute to our strong commitment to safety
• Understand and demonstrate Indigo’s Purpose and Core Values daily

Competencies:

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Ability to manage more than one workstream at a time, good managerial and time management skills
• Ability to work efficiently across functions and with diverse teams of collaborators spanning disciplines and geographies
• Critical thinking. Attention to detail and precise record keeping
• Ability to characterize plants and optimize phenotyping processes
• Ability to work independently and efficiently across functions
• Ability to maintain data integrity while automating simple data handling tasks
• Ability to follow and author effective SOPs

Qualifications:

• Minimum of Bachelor’s degree with 1-2 years of experience required in plant or microbiology
• Experience in plant biology research and handling research data, required
• Ability to safely lift 50 lbs and work in high humidity/temperature conditions, required
• Minimal travel and some weekend work required
• Experience in plant phenotyping and plant pathology strongly, preferred
• Experience in a programming language (e.g. VBA, Python, R), preferred

This position is considered essential and the successful applicant will be required to report in person as allowed by any currently in force COVID19-related restrictions