About Octarine

Octarine Bio, founded in 2018 is a world leading Synthetic Biology platform developing superior bioactive ingredients targeting critical overlooked areas where traditional technologies have failed to deliver ground-breaking solutions. With a core commitment to transforming and redesigning products and processes with sustainable bio-based solutions, Octarine brings together genetic elements from across the natural world to deliver new bioactive molecules beyond the reach of nature or man-made techniques, providing blue ocean market opportunities to our partners and customers.

Octarine was founded on the principle that nature holds the key to solving some of today’s most pressing issues, offering an unprecedented array of bioactive molecules that can radically transform human and planetary health. But because the natural world produces these impressive bioactive molecules for its own benefit and not for ours, their inaccessibility and unoptimized properties prevent them from reaching their full potential. Utilizing our core expertise in cell factory engineering and precision fermentation Octarine provides efficient manufacturing routes to inaccessible bioactive ingredients, and through the discovery, re-purposing and re-design of biocatalytic enzymes, provides ground-breaking technology to enhance natures potential with new bioactive molecules overcoming the limitations of their natural counterparts.

We are a highly diverse team of at least 10 different nationalities with backgrounds in biochemistry, synthetic biology, enzyme engineering, bioprocessing, chemistry, and fermentation. In July 2022 Octarine opened its brand-new, custom-built lab facility in central Copenhagen with dedicated analytics, DSP, molecular biology, and fermentation capacity. With strong international investors and partners Octarine seeks to make a positive impact on the world, bringing to market truly ground-breaking solutions that solve real unmet needs.

Our latest R&D program harnesses fermentation to produce a new class of vibrant bio-based colours for the fashion and textiles industry, seeking to provide a solution that is not only highly sustainable, but also offers exceptional performance on a range of fabrics.

Job description

As we begin to scale-up our bio-based colours program for textile application we’re looking for a production assistant to work alongside Octarine scientists to manufacture our colours and apply them to various textiles at both lab and pilot scale. This will require you to be involved in every step of the production process, from cultivation and fermentation, to extraction, purification, and even fabric dyeing.

Your responsibilities

You will be the centre point of our production campaigns, responsible for following a production batch from start to finish. The scale and scope of production will vary considerably depending on the desired end use. Batches will need to be produced to provide material for both internal and external R&D development, as well as to provide material and even dyed fabrics to various external partners. While technical specialists will oversee each stage of the process, you will be the one doing the hands-on work.

Your profile

To thrive in this role, you will need to be able to work across several different scientific disciplines, we therefore look for people with diverse backgrounds. While there are no formal requirements for this position, you should ideally be able to meet as many of the following requirements as possible. While we don’t expect you to be competent in everything listed below, you should display an eagerness to learn the remaining requirements from Octarine’s experienced scientists.

• A higher education degree (BSc, MSc, technician degree) in a biological or chemical field. Or other relevant training
• Familiarity with fermentation technology and practical experience working with bioreactors in batch, fed-batch, and (semi-)continuous mode.
• Basic molecular biology and microbiology skills including sterile technique, media prep, microbial cultivation, and handling.
• Working knowledge of basic downstream processing unit operations including liquid-liquid extraction, liquid-solid extraction, filtration, and evaporation
• Experience or interest in textile chemistry with knowledge of how to improve and optimize dyeing processes.
• Impeccably well organised and able to work across different projects with different unit operations.
• Strong analytical and creative skills with an ability to solve complex problems with innovative solutions.
• Excellent communicator with an ability to work efficiently in cross-functional teams.

Why work with us?

Octarine is located in the centre of one of Europe’s most liveable cities, in a country world-renowned for its exceptionally high quality of life and work/life balance. As a small synthetic biology start-up, Octarine team members have a high degree of autonomy and their decisions and daily work have a direct and measurable impact on the success of the company. Work life at Octarine is highly diverse and ever-changing, team members are called on to assist the company in a wide range of areas and are constantly challenged with new and exciting scientific problems. Octarine has a core interest in developing solutions to big societal problems and works with molecules at the cutting edge of scientific knowledge including natural and novel cannabinoids and psychedelics. Working at Octarine gives you a unique opportunity to uncover the full potential of these ground-breaking molecules and to see how your scientific research leads to tangible real-world solutions.  

If this sounds like you and you’re excited to join our team, please apply ASAP! Applicants will be assessed on an ongoing basis. Please include a paragraph in your application (either as part of the CV or as a cover letter) with a brief explanation of how your background meets the requirements for the job. Feel free to contact Octarine’s CSO Nick Milne ([email protected]) with any questions or queries about the job posting.