Job Offer – Microfluidics Engineer

Job tittle 

Job description

OKOMERA is seeking a highly-motivated microfluidics engineer to develop automated microfluidic droplet solutions for OKOMERA’s clients in 2022. Her/his main missions will be to develop, to optimize, and to make robust automated microfluidic protocols (droplet production, injection, multiplexed conditions).The candidate will perform experiments, write and optimize code. She/he will work in the microfluidics team, under the supervision of the CTO, and will closely collaborate with other OKOMERA members, notably with the bio-application team. Details of missions will vary depending on the level of expertise ofthe recruited profile.

Requirements

• Education : Engineer degree with 2+ years of experience or PhDlevel in Biophysics/Physics/Microfluidics
• Proven record (strong laboratory experience) of greatexperimental and practical skills, as well as innovative problemsolving
• Good programming skills (Python, C++… )
• Good understanding of fluid mechanics at the microscale
• Great organization and reporting skills
• Ability to work in English within an international team

Ideal candidates may have

• Wet-lab experience in biotechnology/biology
• Experience in droplet microfluidics and microfabrication would be a real plus
• Experience in mammalian cell culture
• Experience in prototyping (3D printing, electronics, industrial design)

Contract : CDI

Starting Date : from February 2022

Salary : based on experience

Education Level : PhD level or Engineering degree with 2+ years of industrial experience

Location : Paris, Brain Institute (ICM), Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière

About Okomera and Microfluidics for clinical oncology

OKOMERA is a newly created start-up (2020) spun out from Ecole Polytechnique and Institut Pasteur, whose key mission is to help selecting the best treatment for each cancer patient. OKOMERA is currently codeveloping functional ex vivo assays with our clients, key opinion leaders leading research inprecision cancer medicine.

OKOMERA clients currently use our 3D cell culture microfluidic technology [1] to cultivate primary patient cells from tumor biopsies, and/or cell lines, to assess cell functionalities(drug sensitivity, morphology, migration). OKOMERA’s droplet array technology enables to automate the formation of complex 3D cell cultures (micro-tumors with co-cultures, hydrogels), and to test tens to hundreds of individual conditions on a single chip [2]. OKOMERA prides itself on supplying easy-to-use products (fluidic machine, chips and software) built for non-experts who wish to automate high-throughput 3D sample testing.

OKOMERA was awarded the national iLAB prize from BPI France in 2019, the COMET program from WILCO, iscurrently incubated at Hôpital Pitié Salpêtrière in Paris and recently finalized its initial funding round. We are currently a team of 7, and are actively hiring to grow and deliver our alpha solution to our first clients in early 2022.

Contact info

Raphaël TOMASI – Cofounder & CTO – communications@okomera.com

References

1- Sart, R. F.-X. Tomasi, G. Amselem, and C. N. Baroud, “Multiscale cytometry and regulation of 3D cellcultures on a chip,” Nat. Commun., vol. 8, p. 469, 2017.

2- F. X. Tomasi, S. Sart, T. Champetier, and C. N. Baroud, “Individual Control and Quantification of 3DSpheroids in a High-Density Microfluidic Droplet Array,” Cell Rep., vol. 31, no. 8, 2020.