---
title: 'Research Assistant, Materials Chemistry (Nanoparticles) at Until'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/research-assistant-materials-chemistry-nanoparticles-until-bay-area-3m7hw2phjy84'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-07'
---

# Research Assistant, Materials Chemistry (Nanoparticles) at Until

- **Company:** Until
- **Location:** Bay Area
- **Compensation:** $95k–$105k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-04-23
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/until/aa4587ec-0063-4aad-912b-fac3a85cf5ad

## Job description

About the Company: Until is a moonshot company building a “pause button” for biology. Our near-term focus is organ-scale reversible cryopreservation: preserving donated organs at subzero temperatures without ice formation, then rewarming them uniformly for transplant. By solving this grand challenge, we’re laying the foundation for whole-body reversible cryopreservation, giving patients a bridge to future cures. To achieve our goal, we are assembling an interdisciplinary team to develop perfusion systems, cryoprotectant formulations, and vitrification and rewarming hardware. We envision a future where no transplantable organ is lost to logistics, and no terminal diagnosis is final because patients can safely wait for future medicine to arrive. We're hiring an experienced, full-time Research Associate to support nanomaterials synthesis, characterization, and implementation. You will work directly with our scientific team to create novel materials, ensure their reproducible synthesis and characterization, and help scale to a manufacturable product.

## Key Responsibilities

The day-to-day activities of our Research Associate will vary, and may include all or none of these tasks on a given day:

- Synthesize nanomaterials using high pressure reactors.

- Purify materials and prep them for secondary experiments.

- Characterize the materials using in house analysis techniques.

- Work with external centers for advanced characterization of the material.

- Interface and work with external collaborators, CROs, or CMOs.

- Create, document, and maintain organizational and purchasing systems for chemicals and special reagents.

- Work collaboratively with and prepare solutions for the organ transplant and hardware team.

- Ensure on-time data reporting and accurate sample delivery.

- Prepare equipment and supplies for experiments of a variety of modalities, and assist with laboratory consumables management.

Additionally, as your laboratory capabilities expand, you will have the opportunity to support a growing number of experiments, including but not limited to: Organ cooling/rewarming, assay design, cryoprotectant formulation, cryoprotectant discovery, medical Imaging, toxicology, etc. Prior experience performing these experiments is not required, however, general familiarity with most or all of these concepts is very helpful.

Required Qualifications

- You've completed an undergraduate degree in STEM with 3+ years of relevant experience in materials science, chemistry, bioengineering or a related field (Industrial or Academic)

- Creative, passionate about discovery, excited to push science forward

- Comfortable in a laboratory setting

-

## Experience doing materials synthesis

- Experience with multiple characterization techniques, including FTIR, NMR, TEM, DSC, Viscometry, etc

## Why Join Us

- An opportunity to grow; team members who have an outsized impact are advanced rapidly

- Generous medical, dental and vision insurance coverage

- Flexible time off and paid holidays

- Competitive compensation package, including salary and equity

- Access to a 401(k) retirement savings plan

- FSA and commuter benefits

- Daily lunch and dinners, plus a variety of snacks

- Monthly learning stipend

- On-site fitness center

## About Until

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Until is building reversible cryopreservation technology to bank whole human organs, extending viability from hours to weeks or months, with the long-term goal of whole-body cryopreservation.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Privately Held)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2025
- **Founders**: Laura Deming (CEO, Co-founder) and Hunter Davis Ozawa (CSO, Co-founder)

## Core Business
- Primary industry/industries: Biotechnology Research, Cryopreservation, Organ Preservation, Hibernation Science
- Target customers: Organ procurement organizations, transplant hospitals, and ultimately patients waiting for organ transplants (B2B with healthcare institutions)
- Mission or purpose statement: "Pressing pause on biological time, for those who need it most." The company aims to solve the organ procurement and matching problem by making donated organs last long enough to reach any patient in need.

## Products & Services
- **Reversible Cryopreservation for Whole Organs**: A technology that cools organs to -130°C using biocompatible cryoprotectants, then rewarms them without damage, turning hours of viability into weeks or months.
- **Cryoprotectant Discovery Engine**: A platform combining physics simulations and machine learning to screen over 250,000 candidate molecules for cryoprotective formulations that stay within a "Biocompatibility Budget" – preventing ice formation without harming cells.
- **Hibernation Research**: Exploratory work on inducing reversible metabolic arrest (hibernation-like states) in organisms, with potential applications in organ preservation and future whole-body suspension.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available (private company, founded 2025)
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding – Not disclosed; headcount of 53 employees (as of early 2026) with 9.5% monthly growth and 29 active job postings.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not publicly listed. The company is co-founded by Laura Deming, a noted longevity and biotech investor (founder of the Longevity Fund), which may signal strong investor connections.
- **Growth Signals**: Rapid hiring (29 open roles for a 53-person team, +31.8% quarterly job posting growth), high-throughput screening scale (2,903 formulations tested in Q2 2026 alone), and public progress on cryoprotectant discovery.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Combination of Physics Simulation and ML**: Their discovery engine screens millions of molecules in silico before wet-lab validation, dramatically accelerating cryoprotectant development.
- **Biocompatibility Budget Framework**: A novel approach that distributes cryoprotectant toxicity across multiple mechanisms, avoiding the single-dose toxicity that has stymied the field for 50 years.
- **Focus on Whole Organs (not just cells)**: Extending cryopreservation from small samples (IVF, stem cells) to whole human organs – a much harder problem with massive clinical impact.
- **Talent Philosophy**: "Proof of work" culture that hires for demonstrated ability over credentials, with fast promotion for those who earn it.

## Strategic Focus
- **Immediate**: Scale up cryoprotectant discovery and validation to achieve reversible cryopreservation of a whole human organ (likely a kidney or heart) within the next few years.
- **Medium-term**: De-risk and build the foundation for whole-body reversible cryopreservation, enabling "a bridge to future cures" for patients with currently incurable conditions.
- **Talent Acquisition**: Aggressively hiring scientists, engineers, and operations staff across physics, biology, chemistry, and engineering disciplines to accelerate R&D.

## Why Work Here
- **Work Environment**: On-site in San Francisco (HQ). The work spans "the edge of physics, biology, and engineering" – from quantum-level simulations to handling real organs. Culture emphasizes "hard problems", rigor, and speed.
- **Culture**: Flat hierarchy, promotion on merit, "proof of work" over credentials. Team includes people from top universities and self-taught scientists alike.
- **Benefits**: Comprehensive medical/dental/vision, 401(k) via Guideline, unlimited PTO, paid parental and disability leave, on-site fitness center, catered lunch and dinner, plus snacks.
- **Engineering & Science**: Opportunity to work on cutting-edge cryobiology, nanotech, polymer chemistry, and high-throughput automation. The company uses AI tools in hiring but makes final human decisions.

## Sources
1. [untillabs.com/careers](https://www.untillabs.com/careers)
2. [untillabs.com](https://untillabs.com/)
3. [untillabs.com/our-team](https://www.untillabs.com/our-team)
4. [builtin.com/company/until-labs](https://builtin.com/company/until-labs)
5. [jobs.lever.co/until](https://jobs.lever.co/until)

## Other roles at Until

- [Electrical Engineer / Applied Physicist](https://feeny.ai/job/electrical-engineer-applied-physicist-until-bay-area-kgcsag1hxzzk) — Bay Area
- [Lab Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/lab-manager-until-bay-area-y2t4zfrgq8f2) — Bay Area
- [Mechanical Engineering, Design](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineering-design-until-bay-area-cbaa9hk1my9k) — Bay Area
- [Senior Scientist, Cardiac Preservation (Organ Perfusion)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-scientist-cardiac-preservation-organ-perfusion-until-bay-area-b452rfthhqkp) — Bay Area
- [Research Associate (Organ Perfusion)](https://feeny.ai/job/research-associate-organ-perfusion-until-bay-area-0b1srem75ztf) — Bay Area
- [Scientist/ Senior Scientist - Translational Cardiac Biology](https://feeny.ai/job/scientist-senior-scientist-translational-cardiac-biology-until-bay-area-4t7rwnr11n7h) — Bay Area
- [Head of Legal](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-legal-until-bay-area-a15h6wha3f21) — Bay Area
- [Machine Learning Engineer / Scientist](https://feeny.ai/job/machine-learning-engineer-scientist-until-bay-area-36xaqmy28p8q) — Bay Area
- [Research Associate, Hibernation](https://feeny.ai/job/research-associate-hibernation-until-bay-area-a9jr1rkbe83f) — Bay Area
- [Physics and Engineering Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/physics-and-engineering-technician-until-bay-area-csevrzjywfzk) — Bay Area