Description

About The Company:
Deep Root Bio is an early-stage synthetic biology company originally developed at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. We engineer endophytic bacteria to deliver biomolecules intracellularly to plants, building a versatile platform with applications spanning environmental remediation, agriculture, and biomanufacturing.

Our current focus includes phytoremediation of contaminated soils, including hydrocarbon degradation and heavy metal accumulation, and a growing pipeline of agricultural and biomanufacturing applications. We are based at the JHU FastForward incubator in Baltimore and are actively building our core scientific team.

Role Overview:
We are seeking a highly motivated Research Scientist to join our small, fast-moving team. The ideal candidate is a creative and rigorous scientist who thrives on learning new concepts quickly, tackles hard problems across disciplinary boundaries, and is excited about translating fundamental research into real-world environmental and agricultural impact. You will work directly with the founding team on a broad range of experimental and platform development activities.

Requirements

Required Qualifications:

•        PhD or MSc in Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Synthetic Biology, Biochemistry, or a closely related field
•        Strong foundational skills in microbiology: bacterial culture, genetic manipulation, strain construction, and phenotypic characterization
•        Proficiency in synthetic and molecular biology techniques: cloning, gene expression, plasmid design, and functional assays
•        Experience working with non-model or environmental bacteria
•        Highly self-directed with strong problem-solving ability and intellectual curiosity across domains
•        Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without visa sponsorship

Preferred Qualifications:

•        Experience with plant inoculation assays and plant growth chamber or greenhouse management
•        Analytical chemistry experience, including LC-MS/MS and/or ICP-MS
•        Knowledge of soil chemistry, metal biogeochemistry, anaerobic culturing and metagenomics
•        Experience designing, setting up, or running field trials or pilot experiments for plant- or microbe-based interventions
•        Experience with heavy metal bioremediation, phytoremediation, or biomining