insitro is a physical AI company dedicated to unlocking causal human biology and accelerating the delivery of better medicines to patients. Our unique Virtual HumanTM platform identifies novel, high-impact genetic intervention points, which our TherMLTM platform translates into therapeutics—whether small molecules, biologics, or oligos. With multiple programs in metabolic disease and neuroscience advancing toward the clinic, and our first IND submission slated for the second half of this year, we are at a pivotal inflection point.
We are seeking an Associate Scientist III to join our cardiac disease biology team. In this role, you will support the development and application of iPSC-derived cardiomyocyte (iPSC-CM) models to study the genetic and molecular underpinnings of cardiovascular disease — working at the intersection of human stem cell biology, cardiac physiology, and scalable experimental platforms to generate the datasets that fuel our ML-driven drug discovery efforts. You will design and execute experiments, optimize differentiation workflows, develop functional and scalable functional assays to connect cellular phenotypes to disease mechanisms and therapeutic targets.
Based in South San Francisco, this position reports directly to Senior Scientist, Cardiometabolic Disease - Translational Genetics and requires you to be onsite at our South San Francisco office 5 days per week.
iPSC-CM Platform & Model Development
Differentiation & QC: Support the generation and maintenance of iPSC lines and their differentiation into cardiomyocytes in 2D format (monolayers), implementing rigorous quality control points at each stage of the pipeline and with emphasis on production scalability
Genetic Disease Models: Assist in building isogenic iPSC-CM disease models — including patient and CRISPR-edited lines carrying disease-associated variants — and characterizing the cellular model to study cardiovascular pathophysiology
Functional Assays & Disease Modeling
Functional Readouts: Support the development and optimization of functional assays relevant to cardiovascular disease —contractility, electrophysiology, calcium handling, stress responses, high-content imaging — in formats compatible with high-throughput data acquisition
Rigor & Reproducibility: Documentation including writing/reviewing technical procedures and SOPs, presentation of results in team meetings and maintaining laboratory notebook with scientific rigor
Cross-functional Partnership
Target Identification: Contribute to target identification and validation efforts by connecting cellular phenotypes to human genetic evidence, aligning around the team and company goals to advance drug discovery
Cell culture and iPSC-CM Expertise: Deep hands-on experience in iPSC culture, cardiac directed differentiation and iPSC-CM model characterization in 2D (monolayer) format. Prior experience in 3D/engineered heart tissue platforms or organoids is a plus
Cardiovascular Biology: Background in cardiomyocyte biology and/or cardiovascular disease is preferred
Functional Assays: Experience with functional assays relevant to cardiomyocyte biology (contractility, calcium, electrophysiology, imaging, stress responses). Prior exposure and experience working with high-throughput platforms and/or automated systems is a plus
Molecular Assays: Hands-on expertise in molecular assays, such as PCR, RT-qPCR, Western Blot and immunofluorescence
Scientific Communication: Track record of executing rigorous experiments and communicating findings clearly in publications, presentations or internal reports
Core Competencies
Cross-functional and Curious Collaborator: You are comfortable managing multiple tasks efficiently, communicating clearly and effectively, building open and collaborative relationships and are curious about implementing novel ML models into functional biology
Independent & Adaptive: You thrive in a fast-paced environment working both independently and as part of a small, dedicated team while staying aligned with the team objectives
Scientific Rigor and Attention to Detail: You excel at designing and executing experiments with the utmost scientific rigor, strong attention to detail and a positive and go-getter attitude towards unexpected results and challenges
