--- title: 'Member of Scientific Staff, Cell Line Development at Substrate Bio' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-scientific-staff-cell-line-development-substrate-bio-london-dpem152a9trk' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-14' --- # Member of Scientific Staff, Cell Line Development at Substrate Bio - **Company:** Substrate Bio - **Location:** London, United Kingdom - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-10-09 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-14 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/substrate-bio/cecdedf8-a30f-4d29-a14f-3b86d0f5136f ## Job description LOCATION: King’s Cross, London · PATTERN: Lab-based, full-time The opportunity We’re a stealth startup in AI and bio, building infrastructure for data generation. The team is small and elite, the problems are hard, and the foundations are being laid right now. You’d help write them from the first line, with real ownership and a direct line to the founders. This role builds our cell lines from the start. You would engineer, validate and bank the human cell lines our functional genomics screens run on, in a lab where the methods you set become the standard. ## About us AI for biology has a data problem. The data that matters most doesn’t exist yet, so we’re building the infrastructure to produce it, with quality and traceability built in from day one. We’re in stealth and heads-down on execution. We’ll share more about what we’re building once you’ve spoken with the team. ## The role You will build and look after the cell models behind our screens. That means human iPSCs and other cell types that are hard to culture, taken from a vial on arrival to a validated, documented bank that a screening campaign can draw on. Most of the work is engineering. You will generate CRISPR-edited lines, including knockouts, knock-ins and endogenous tags, isogenic disease and corrected pairs, and inducible systems. You will isolate clones and validate them by genotyping, sequencing, karyotype and pluripotency QC, and off-target checks. We build our engineered lines in-house rather than buying them in, so this work starts at the beginning of the line, not partway through. You will differentiate iPSCs into neurons and other lineages and characterise them by immunostaining and imaging, then hand them on to the screening, imaging and computational scientists you work alongside. You will build and manage the cell banks, with records good enough that anyone can trace a vial back through every passage, edit and QC result. As protocols settle, you will make them more consistent and move them into plate-based formats ready for automation. This is a hands-on bench role in a small team, and the protocols you write here are the ones the lab will run. ## Your first 90 days ## FIRST 30 DAYS ◆ Run our core iPSC and cell culture workflows independently and to a consistent standard. ◆ Learn the cell-line register, the QC gates a line passes through, and how its history is recorded. ## DAYS 30 TO 60 ◆ Take a first engineered line from guide design through editing and into clonal isolation. ◆ Write or revise at least one cell maintenance protocol, including how failures are captured. ## DAYS 60 TO 90 ◆ Bring that first line through validation, with banking under way. ◆ Improve one protocol for consistency or move it into a plate-based format. ## Who you are You are a careful, hands-on cell biologist who cares about cells behaving the same way every time. You have spent long enough with iPSCs or similarly demanding cells to know what a bad week in culture looks like and how to stop it happening again. You keep records that someone else can follow without asking you. You are happy at the bench most days and you like seeing your work picked up by the people downstream of you. You say early when something is not working, and you are comfortable with a plan that changes as we learn. We do not hire people into boxes. The team is small, and early hires here end up owning work beyond the job they joined for. If you want to learn how screening, imaging and automation fit around your cells, there is room to do it. ## MUST HAVE ◆ A PhD in cell biology, stem cell biology, neuroscience or a related field, or an MSc and two to three years of relevant lab experience. ◆ Strong hands-on experience culturing iPSCs or other demanding cell types, such as primary cells, neurons or organoids. ◆ Practical CRISPR genome editing and clonal line generation, with the molecular biology behind it (cloning, PCR, Sanger and NGS genotyping). ◆ Excellent aseptic technique and careful, traceable record-keeping. ## NICE TO HAVE ◆ Forward programming of iPSCs into neurons or other cell types by transcription factor induction, for example NGN2. ◆ Lentiviral production and transduction. ◆ Fluorescence or high-content imaging, or flow cytometry for single-cell sorting. ◆ Work with lab automation, such as liquid handlers or plate-based workflows. ## Why this is unusual Most cell line roles sit inside a research group, making lines for one project and one set of hands. This one sits inside a lab built around data quality, and that changes the job in two ways. The history of every line is part of the record. Source, passage, edits and QC results are captured as structured data, because results are only as trustworthy as the cells behind them. And the protocols you write become the starting point for automated workflows, so they have to be precise enough for a liquid handler to follow. That means more documentation and more standardisation than most academic labs ask for. Some people find that energising; some find it outside their lane. Worth knowing in advance which one you are. ## How we work This is a lab-based role at our site in King’s Cross, London. The cells are in the lab, so most of your week will be too, with room for writing and analysis away from the bench. The wider team is distributed and travels, so you will work with people who are not always in the building. We work in the open. Decisions are written down, work happens in Slack rather than scattered across tools, and the week opens with a session the whole company attends. There is a quarterly offsite. Each person owns their area and makes the call inside it, and we will expect that of you early rather than late. UK benefits are 30 days of annual leave plus public holidays, a pension with a 10% employer contribution, and top-tier Bupa private health cover. More is added as the team grows. The team you will join You will join the functional genomics team and report to the functional genomics lead. Day to day you will work with the team’s scientists on screening, imaging and analysis, with the protein scientists who share our cell culture suite, and with the engineers building the software and automation the lab runs on. We are a small, elite team. You will be one of the first people here whose main job is the cell lines themselves. Our process Our process has four stages. A short screening call about the role and the practicalities. A behavioural interview about how you work, run from the same template for every candidate, before anything technical. A technical stage with the functional genomics team, including time with us in person at the lab. Then references, aimed at whatever we still want to understand. If you are not sure whether you match every line above, apply anyway. We would rather read it and decide. We are an equal opportunity employer. We make hiring decisions on merit, scope-fit, and the strength of the working relationship we expect to build with each hire. Applications welcome from candidates of any background. ## About Substrate Bio ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Substrate Bio is building a network of fully autonomous wet laboratories that produce the high-quality, structured data that foundation models in biology are bottlenecked on. - **Entity Type**: Private (Pre-Seed stage, funded by a combination of venture funding and government grants) - **Headquarters**: London, United Kingdom (King’s Cross) - **Founded**: 2023 (Incorporated June 13, 2023) - **Founders**: Mostafa ElSayed (CEO, also founder of Automata), Oli Hoy (formerly VP Customer Experience at Automata), Alexey Morgunov (AI Scientist co-founder), and a founding biology lead joining shortly. ## Core Business - **Primary industry/industries**: Deep Tech, Biotech / Life Sciences, AI-driven biology, Lab Automation - **Target customers**: B2B; foundation model labs, global pharmaceutical companies, and AI-driven biology researchers. - **Mission or purpose statement**: To become the critical infrastructure layer for AI-driven biological discovery by building a network of autonomous wet labs that operate in a closed loop with foundation models. ## Products & Services - **Autonomous Wet Lab Platform**: A network of fully autonomous wet laboratories (first node in King’s Cross, London) where pipetting robots run continuously, executing experiments end-to-end with no human intervention. The labs return structured data within hours. - **Closed-Loop Integration with Foundation Models**: The platform is designed so that foundation models design the experiments and read the results in real time. Better data improves the models, and better models design better experiments. - **Token-Based Usage Pricing**: Access to the platform is sold on a usage basis via a token-based model that maps physical inputs (instrument time, materials, compute, complexity) onto a cleaner customer-facing unit of value. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed (likely pre-seed/seed stage, funded by founders and undisclosed angels). - **Key Metric**: Total Funding — Not publicly disclosed, but funded in parallel by venture funding and government grants (including ARIA and DSIT grants). - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not publicly named. The company is spinning out of Automata, the UK lab automation company. - **Growth Signals**: Active hiring in 2026 (Head of Functional Genomics, Chemistry Principal Scientist, Financial Controller). Targeting a team of ~32 people by the end of Q1 2027. First lab node opening in King’s Cross, London, with several integrated workcells and two scientific verticals online by mid-2027. ## Competitive Advantages - **Autonomous, Not a Cloud Lab or CRO**: Substrate is building a fully autonomous lab platform with closed-loop integration, differentiating itself from traditional cloud labs or contract research organizations (CROs). - **Data Quality for AI**: The core thesis is that the bottleneck in AI-driven biology is high-quality, structured experimental data. Substrate’s automated labs are designed to produce this data at scale, creating a unique moat. - **Open Access Model**: Researchers access the platform through an API with no minimum commitment and no exclusivity, lowering the barrier to entry for AI labs. - **Deep Integration with Foundation Models**: The platform is built from the ground up to operate in a closed loop with AI models, not as an afterthought. ## Strategic Focus - **Building the First Node**: The immediate priority is opening the first autonomous lab node in King’s Cross, London, and getting two scientific verticals online by mid-2027. - **Scaling the Team**: Aggressively hiring senior scientific and operational talent to build the experimental protocols and finance function. - **Commercial Model**: Developing and stress-testing a token-based usage pricing model that translates physical lab capacity into customer cost. - **Grant and Venture Funding**: Managing parallel ARIA and DSIT grants alongside a venture round to fund capital-intensive lab infrastructure. ## Why Work Here - **High-Impact, Foundational Work**: This is a deeply unusual finance and engineering problem — building the infrastructure layer for AI biology from scratch. The work directly addresses a critical bottleneck in the field. - **Founding Team & Culture**: The company is led by four co-founders with deep expertise in lab automation (Automata), AI, and biology. The culture is described as hybrid with a strong in-person presence (at least three days a week in King’s Cross). - **Unique Finance Role**: The Financial Controller role, for example, is described as "the single highest-impact piece of finance work in the company," blending finance, product, and pricing work. - **Growth Trajectory**: The company is scaling from 4 co-founders to ~32 people by Q1 2027, offering early employees significant ownership and influence. - **Location**: Based in King’s Cross, London, a major tech and life sciences hub. ## Sources 1. [substratebio.ai](https://substratebio.ai/) 2. [Companies House - Substrate Bio Ltd](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/17191596) 3. [Companies House - Officers](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/17191596/officers) 4. [AshbyHQ - Financial Controller Job Posting](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/substrate-bio/a440fcca-aa12-42e6-9997-611463f8ddf4) 5. [AshbyHQ - Chemistry Principal Scientist Job Posting](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/substrate-bio/7d15e5f9-3f0b-4ad6-abce-c83bf4ed8eb1) 6. [BeBee - Head of Functional Genomics Job Posting](https://bebee.com/gb/jobs/head-of-functional-genomics-substrate-bio-london--theirstack-688561239) 7. [Startuply.vc - Substrate Bio Profile](https://startuply.vc/startup/substrate-bio-u76ba) 8. [Startuply.vc - Article on Substrate Bio Hiring](https://startuply.vc/article/substrate-bio-is-hiring-for-a-fully-automated-wet-lab-that-doesn-t-yet-exist-ioy8to) ## Other roles at Substrate Bio - [Member of Scientific Staff, Computational Chemistry](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-scientific-staff-computational-chemistry-substrate-bio-london-gnvrza03pbc9) — London, United Kingdom - [Protein Production Scientist, Biologics](https://feeny.ai/job/protein-production-scientist-biologics-substrate-bio-london-j9tks50dnee6) — London, United Kingdom - [Member of Technical Staff, Intelligence](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-intelligence-substrate-bio-london-x22edfw5dq03) — London, United Kingdom - [Member of Technical Staff, Intelligence - Functoional Genomics](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-intelligence-functoional-genomics-substrate-bio-london-hc5g0evaggx7) — London, United Kingdom - [Member of Technical Staff, Software](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-software-substrate-bio-london-1ap71r57hp67) — London, United Kingdom - [Lab Operations Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/lab-operations-manager-substrate-bio-london-6hqtcygvvv2m) — London, United Kingdom - [Molecular Characterisation Scientist, Biologics](https://feeny.ai/job/molecular-characterisation-scientist-biologics-substrate-bio-london-mtfkrd1s2mqt) — London, United Kingdom