---
title: 'Research Associate II, High-Throughput Cell Biology at Biohub'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/research-associate-ii-high-throughput-cell-biology-biohub-chicago-85fp3a8s43hr'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-18'
---

# Research Associate II, High-Throughput Cell Biology at Biohub

- **Company:** Biohub
- **Location:** Chicago, IL
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-10-06
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-18
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/biohub/jobs/8259482

## Job description

Biohub is the first large-scale initiative bringing frontier AI models, massive compute, and frontier experimental capabilities under one roof. We're building a general-purpose system to accelerate scientific discovery, integrating frontier AI models, biological foundation models, and lab capabilities, with the ultimate goal of curing disease. Our technology powers scientists around the world, translating AI capabilities into tools that accelerate research everywhere.

The Team

Our decoding inflammation team builds tools to enable precise molecular-level measurements of inflammation within human tissues in real time, and develop proactive, early interventions that can be deployed when inflammation — which underlies the most significant causes of death worldwide — first flares in the body. You can learn more about our work [here](https://biohub.org/inflammation/).

Our team collaborates with three powerhouse universities - Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - to develop first-in-class technologies and make breakthroughs.

Our Vision

- Pursue large scientific challenges that cannot be pursued in conventional environments
- Enable individual investigators to pursue their riskiest and most innovative ideas
- Facilitate research by scientists and clinicians at our home institutions and beyond

We are a team of passionate individuals powered by technology, guided by scientific research, and driven by collaboration, working toward a mission to cure or prevent all disease.

The Opportunity

To support our AI models and applications in inflammation and immunology, Biohub Chicago is building a lab that runs biology experiments at a scale and consistency that manual work can't reach. We are seeking a Research Associate experienced in hands-on cell biology to work closely with automation engineers and scientists, performing consistent cell maintenance, executing experiments on and off automated systems, and developing the QC metrics which will form the basis for a reliable experimentation platform. We are looking for a strong experimentalist who is comfortable learning new instrumentation.

## What You'll Do

- Support execution of high throughput experiments, including loading labware, reagents, performing startup and shutdown operations, and monitoring execution to flag for deviations to planned protocol.
- Perform routine cell culture and molecular biology, including daily bulk cell culture maintenance, media preparations, and routine equipment maintenance tasks.
- Assist in model development and maintenance, including culture and differentiation of iPSCs or other relevant cell systems that recapitulate disease-related phenotypes.
- Design, optimize, and troubleshoot experimental protocols and SOPs, proactively identifying bottlenecks and opportunities to improve throughput, reliability, or efficiency.
- Maintain detailed lab notebooks, document experimental outcomes, and Communicate findings to the larger team.
- Independently plan, prioritize and execute work.
- Collaborate with scientists in experimental design and analysis.
- Adhere to laboratory safety standards, guidelines, and protocols.

## What You'll Bring

- Master's or Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences or a related field
- 2-4 years of hands-on research experience
- Experience culturing primary cells, non-adherent cells as well as immortalized cell lines
- Flexibility and willingness to learn new technologies
- Strong organizational skills and attention to detail across multi-step, multi-day experimental workflows — including documentation, reagent management, and coordination
- Ability to work independently on assigned projects

## Nice to Have

- Experience with flow cytometry, including sample preparation and instrument operation
- Experience with next-generation sequencing library preparation or single-cell genomics platforms (particularly 10x Genomics)
- Familiar with lentiviral vector productions and transduction
- Experience culturing iPSCs
- Experience with lab automation and liquid handling

## Compensation

The Chicago, IL base pay range for a new hire in this role is $70,000 - $87,000. New hires are typically hired into the lower portion of the range, enabling employee growth in the range over time. Actual placement in range is based on job-related skills and experience, as evaluated throughout the interview process.

This position may be eligible to participate in our discretionary annual performance bonus program. Bonus eligibility and targets are determined in accordance with our total rewards philosophy and may vary by role.

## Benefits for the Whole You

We’re thankful to have an incredible team behind our work. To honor their commitment, we offer a wide range of benefits to support the people who make all we do possible.

- Provides a generous employer match on employee 401(k) contributions to support planning for the future.
- Paid time off to volunteer at an organization of your choice.
- Funding for select family-forming benefits.
- Relocation support for employees who need assistance moving

If you’re interested in a role but your previous experience doesn’t perfectly align with each qualification in the job description, we still encourage you to apply as you may be the perfect fit for this or another role.

#LI-Onsite

## About Biohub

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Biohub (Chan Zuckerberg Biohub) is a nonprofit research organization building AI-powered tools and engineered cells to detect, treat, and ultimately cure age-related diseases.
- **Entity Type**: Nonprofit (Private) – parent institution is the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; funded by a $600 million endowment from Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan.
- **Headquarters**: Redwood City, California, United States (with additional offices in San Francisco, Chicago, New York)
- **Founded**: 2016
- **Founders**: Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg (co-founded as part of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; initial scientific leadership by Stephen Quake and Joseph DeRisi)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: AI-powered biology, biotechnology research, healthcare
- **Target customers**: Scientists and researchers in academia and industry; indirectly benefits biotech and pharmaceutical companies through open-source models and foundational research; also invests in early‑stage companies via Science Ventures.
- **Mission or purpose statement**: “To cure or prevent all disease” by combining frontier artificial intelligence with frontier biology to understand why disease happens and how to correct it.

## Products & Services
- **AI Models for Biology**: Frontier AI models trained on large‑scale biological datasets (e.g., a world model of protein biology) that allow scientists to generate, test, and refine new protein designs. These are released as open discovery engines.
- **Multi‑Dimensional Imaging Platforms**: Advanced tools (e.g., laser phase plate microscopy) that capture life from single proteins to whole organisms, revealing how cells function and communicate. Enables new AI models to predict cellular behavior.
- **High‑Throughput Data Generation Engines**: Proprietary platforms for measuring, imaging, and programming biology at unprecedented scale, powering AI model training and hypothesis generation.
- **Science Ventures**: An investment arm that supports early‑stage companies aligned with Biohub’s Grand Challenges (e.g., Somite AI, Adaptyx Biosciences).
- **Grants & Collaborations**: Targeted grantmaking and open competitions to expand scientific research, including the Investigator Program for external scientists.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not applicable (nonprofit); endowment of US$600 million (initial funding in 2016).
- **Key Metric**: ~367 employees (as of mid‑2025); operating in 5 countries (US, UK, France, Canada, Netherlands); active job postings: 35+.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (primary funder); academic partners include UC Berkeley, UCSF, Stanford; recent investments in Somite AI and Adaptyx Biosciences.
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount growing 1.5% monthly; quarterly job posting increase of 133%; expanding into new locations (Chicago, New York); launching open‑source biological AI models.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Scale of Compute & Data**: Unprecedented access to frontier AI compute clusters combined with unique, large‑scale biological datasets (genomics, proteomics, imaging).
- **Open Science Model**: Results and models are shared openly, creating a virtuous feedback loop with the global research community.
- **Talent Density**: Strong hiring pipeline from top institutions (Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCSF, Caltech) and a collaborative culture across AI, engineering, and biology.
- **Founder Backing**: Deep, sustained funding from Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan ensures long‑term, risk‑taking research without commercial pressure.

## Strategic Focus
- **Grand Challenges**: Decoding inflammation, early detection of age‑related diseases (cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s), rare disease research, and building a “world model” of protein biology.
- **AI‑First Biology**: Developing AI models that can predict cellular behavior and guide targeted treatment “only when and where needed.”
- **Platform Scaling**: Expanding high‑throughput data generation engines and imaging tools to break through sparsity of biological data.
- **Open Collaboration**: Accelerating translation from basic discovery to patient benefit through partnerships, grants, and open‑source releases.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission‑Driven**: Opportunity to work at the intersection of AI and biology on problems that aim to eliminate the most significant causes of death worldwide.
- **Culture & Team**: A collaborative team of scientists, engineers, and ML experts from top universities and companies (Genentech, EvolutionaryScale, etc.). Emphasis on “audacious, important scientific challenges.”
- **Work Policy**: Hybrid model for many roles in Redwood City and New York; some positions are onsite in Chicago or San Francisco.
- **Compensation & Perks**: Competitive salaries (e.g., Computational Biologist II ~$99k/yr, Clinical Lab Specialist ~$58k/yr); strong benefits typical of a well‑funded nonprofit; no equity, but meaningful mission impact.
- **Growth**: Rapid hiring expansion across AI research, engineering, and biology; opportunity to work on frontier AI compute infrastructure and foundational biology models.

## Sources
1. [biohub.org](https://biohub.org/)
2. [Careers page – Greenhouse](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/biohub)
3. [LinkedIn – CZ Biohub](https://www.linkedin.com/company/cz-biohub)
4. [Wikipedia – Chan Zuckerberg Biohub](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chan_Zuckerberg_Biohub) (referenced via search result)

## Other roles at Biohub

- [R&D Engineer II](https://feeny.ai/job/r-d-engineer-ii-biohub-new-york-qa0700793dx1) — New York, NY
- [Computational Biologist, Immune Cell Repolarization](https://feeny.ai/job/computational-biologist-immune-cell-repolarization-biohub-new-york-dt3na0g615eh) — New York, NY
- [Staff Research Scientist, AI Safety](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-research-scientist-ai-safety-biohub-new-york-68fy1gymrhmg) — New York, NY
- [Director, Virtual Biology Initiative](https://feeny.ai/job/director-virtual-biology-initiative-biohub-redwood-city-pwf0p3w6k56w) — Redwood City, CA
- [Sr Staff/Staff Data Scientist, Imaging](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-staff-staff-data-scientist-imaging-biohub-redwood-city-20s3vpyx8gb5) — Redwood City, CA
- [Postdoctoral Fellow, Multimodal Modeling](https://feeny.ai/job/postdoctoral-fellow-multimodal-modeling-biohub-chicago-rbjy9ygphvaj) — Chicago, IL
- [Staff Research Scientist, AI Safety](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-research-scientist-ai-safety-biohub-redwood-city-ep0edq8d37s8) — Redwood City, CA
- [Research Engineer, AI](https://feeny.ai/job/research-engineer-ai-biohub-redwood-city-xen19q2wjndb) — Redwood City, CA
- [Research Scientist, AI](https://feeny.ai/job/research-scientist-ai-biohub-redwood-city-zdnqvpc3bwad) — Redwood City, CA
- [Research Scientist, AI](https://feeny.ai/job/research-scientist-ai-biohub-new-york-m6drd73tt8f8) — New York, NY