---
title: 'Scientist, cDNA Display at Manifold Bio'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/scientist-cdna-display-manifold-bio-boston-k20s594tsp1s'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-13'
---

# Scientist, cDNA Display at Manifold Bio

- **Company:** Manifold Bio
- **Location:** Boston, MA
- **Posted:** 2026-03-04
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-13
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/manifoldbio/jobs/5069336007

## Job description

Manifold Bio is a platform biotechnology company pioneering AI-guided protein design and massively multiplexed in vivo screening to unlock tissue-targeted medicines and organism-scale models of living systems. Using proprietary molecular barcoding technology, we screen hundreds of thousands of protein designs simultaneously in living systems, producing in vivo-validated datasets at a scale no one else can match. The datasets power our computational models, which leads to better drug designs, creating a flywheel that gets stronger with every campaign. Our team of protein engineers, biologists, and computational scientists works across this full stack to pursue programs both internally and with leading pharma companies.

Position

Manifold Bio is seeking a scientist to build and own a high-throughput, automated cell-free display platform for screening computationally designed protein binder libraries against hundreds of therapeutic receptor targets. This platform will be a cornerstone of Manifold's closed-loop AI-driven molecule discovery engine, generating the large-scale, high-quality binding data needed to train and improve our design models. The ideal candidate is a hands-on scientist with deep expertise in cell-free display technologies and a drive to build automated systems that can operate at scale. You will work at the intersection of protein engineering, laboratory automation, and ML-guided drug discovery, collaborating closely with our binder discovery, ML, and automation teams.

## Responsibilities

- Design, develop, and validate a cell-free display platform (cDNA display or similar) compatible with diverse binder formats
- Work with automation team to scale and automate the platform to enable routine, high-throughput screening against large panels of therapeutic targets
- Collaborate with ML and computational teams to ensure screening outputs feed effectively into model training pipelines
- Work with the protein engineering team to support discovery campaigns and affinity maturation as platform capacity allows
- Stay current on advances in cell-free display, laboratory automation, and computational protein design

Required Qualifications

- PhD or equivalent experience in protein biochemistry, molecular biology, biological engineering, or a related field
- Hands-on experience with cell-free selection systems (cDNA display, mRNA display, ribosome display, or similar)
- Strong molecular biology fundamentals and demonstrated ability to develop and troubleshoot complex, multi-step workflows
- Experience with or strong interest in laboratory automation

## Preferred Qualifications

- Track record of successfully automating complex laboratory workflows
- Background in therapeutic antibody discovery or protein engineering
- Experience with computational protein design
- Familiarity with how high-throughput screening data feeds into ML and computational pipelines
- Experience with complex or non-traditional binder formats and biochemical intuition to adapt selection workflows accordingly

## Why you might be a good fit

- Building systems that generate data at a scale previously impossible excites you
- You thrive in fast-moving environments where you own a problem end-to-end
- You are energized by working at the intersection of wet lab science, automation, and AI-driven biotherapeutic discovery
- You are a collaborative scientist who communicates well across teams with different technical backgrounds

Base Salary Range: $118,000-138,000

This reflects the typical offer range for this role, based on experience, role scope, and internal equity. Final compensation decisions are made using a consistent leveling framework and consider the candidate’s experience, interview performance, and expected impact.

This role is eligible for:

- Annual performance-based target bonus
- Stock options
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
- 401(k) plan
- Flexible paid time off and holidays
- Perks including on-site gym, onsite lunch, and commuter support

Our compensation ranges are reviewed annually to ensure alignment with market trends and internal equity. We value different experiences and ways of thinking and believe the most talented teams are built by bringing together people of diverse cultures, genders, and backgrounds.

## About Manifold Bio

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Manifold Bio is a platform therapeutics company building the first AI-guided direct-to-vivo discovery platform to design tissue-targeted biologics.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series A)
- **Headquarters**: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- **Founded**: 2019
- **Founders**: Gleb Kuznetsov (CEO), Pierce Ogden (CTO), Shane Lofgren (Head of Business Development)

## Core Business
- **Primary industries**: Biotechnology, Drug Discovery, Artificial Intelligence for Protein Design
- **Target customers**: B2B – large pharmaceutical companies (via partnerships and collaborations) and internal pipeline for novel therapeutics
- **Mission or purpose statement**: “Tissue-targeted medicines, designed in vivo” – building a predictive model of living systems to enable rational design of biologics that precisely reach intended tissues.

## Products & Services
- **mDesign Engine**: Integrated platform combining AI-guided protein design with massively multiplexed in vivo screening to measure pharmacokinetics, biodistribution, and target engagement directly in living systems.
- **mCodes**: Multiplexed protein barcodes decoded via NGS, enabling high-throughput tracking of millions of protein variants in a single experiment.
- **mShuttle Portfolio**: Modular library of brain shuttles engineered and optimized in vivo to deliver payloads across the blood-brain barrier with high specificity and exposure.
- **mBER**: Open-sourced AI model for designing epitope-specific antibodies, validated in million-scale experiments. (SaaS/model, not a product per se)
- **Internal Pipeline**: Tissue-targeted biologic candidates for Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, rare CNS diseases, and cardiometabolic disease.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Total Funding**: $78.18M (CBInsights) / $61.4M (Apollo.io) – conflicting reports; latest available data shows multiple rounds including a $15M Series A in April 2024.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Playground Global, Fifty Years, Amazon Web Services, and a strategic collaboration with Roche announced in November 2025.
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew 58.1% YoY to 54 employees; published a joint study with NVIDIA validating million-scale AI-driven protein binder design; active job postings up 100% monthly.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Direct-to-vivo platform**: Unlike most AI-driven drug discovery companies that rely on in vitro data, Manifold tests protein designs directly in living systems, capturing physiologically relevant properties like PK, biodistribution, and toxicity.
- **Massively multiplexed experimentation**: Proprietary molecular tracking (mCodes) enables simultaneous testing of millions of protein variants against hundreds of targets, closing the loop between generative AI design and experimental validation at scale.
- **High-profile collaborations**: The Roche partnership and NVIDIA validation provide external credibility and access to industry-leading resources.

## Strategic Focus
- **Expanding tissue-specific delivery**: Starting with brain (CNS) through mShuttle, then moving to peripheral tissues (adipose, cardiometabolic).
- **Building the “virtual organism”**: Integrating high-throughput in vivo data to train a predictive model of how biomolecules behave in the body, enabling fully rational design.
- **Deepening pharma partnerships**: Leveraging platform capabilities to co-develop next-generation biologics with partners like Roche.
- **Open-sourcing AI models**: Releasing mBER and other tools to attract talent, drive adoption, and set industry standards.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Flat, science-driven organization where ML engineers, computational biologists, and wet-lab scientists collaborate closely. Emphasis on “hybrid computational/wet lab science” and library-guided design.
- **Growth trajectory**: 58% employee growth YoY, active hiring across AI/ML, protein engineering, biology, and operations – signals rapid scaling.
- **Work environment**: Boston-based (Seaport area), likely office-first with some flexibility; job postings don’t mention remote but roles are Boston-listed.
- **Notable perks**: Opportunity to work at the frontier of AI + biology, access to cutting-edge wet lab infrastructure, and direct impact on pipeline decisions from early discovery through IND-enabling studies.

## Sources
1. [manifold.bio](https://www.manifold.bio/) (Company website)
2. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/manifold-bio) (LinkedIn company page)
3. [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/manifold-bio) (CBInsights profile)
4. [boards.greenhouse.io](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/manifoldbio) (Careers page)
5. [manifold.bio/news](https://www.manifold.bio/news) (News – Roche collaboration, NVIDIA study)
6. [apollo.io](https://www.apollo.io/companies/Manifold-Bio) (Apollo.io revenue/funding data)

## Other roles at Manifold Bio

- [Senior Lab Operations Associate](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-lab-operations-associate-manifold-bio-boston-9hzaxy9hgc0z) — Boston, MA
- [Scientist II/Senior Scientist, Protein Sciences – Cell Binding Assays](https://feeny.ai/job/scientist-ii-senior-scientist-protein-sciences-cell-binding-assays-manifold-bio-he5xybzbd1mk) — Boston, MA
- [Scientist, Bioconjugation](https://feeny.ai/job/scientist-bioconjugation-manifold-bio-boston-v1hw9b634cb4) — Boston, MA
- [Research Associate / Senior Research Associate, In Vitro Pharmacology](https://feeny.ai/job/research-associate-senior-research-associate-in-vitro-pharmacology-manifold-bio-a5vxzqjbgfkm) — Boston, MA
- [Associate Scientist/Senior Associate Scientist, In Vivo Pharmacology – Study Coordinator](https://feeny.ai/job/associate-scientist-senior-associate-scientist-in-vivo-pharmacology-study-vs7tg31p2che) — Boston, MA
- [Computational Scientist, Assay Development](https://feeny.ai/job/computational-scientist-assay-development-manifold-bio-boston-4qvj0atdygfs) — Boston, MA
- [Product Manager, AI Platform & Partnerships](https://feeny.ai/job/product-manager-ai-platform-partnerships-manifold-bio-boston-pghg83twvq9t) — Boston, MA / San Francisco, CA
- [Sr. Director/VP, Biology](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-director-vp-biology-manifold-bio-boston-f5c0ac39wzn7) — Boston, MA
- [AI/ML Scientist, Protein Foundation Models](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-ml-scientist-protein-foundation-models-manifold-bio-boston-ma-or-san-ndnwdy540hyp) — Boston MA OR San Francisco, CA
- [Senior Director, Biotherapeutics](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-director-biotherapeutics-manifold-bio-boston-s6aww0xdkqqd) — Boston, MA