Merge Labs is a frontier research lab working to bridge biological and artificial intelligence. It is developing new approaches to brain-computer interfaces that interact with the brain at high bandwidth, integrate with advanced AI, and are intended to be safe and accessible.

About the team

The Bio team develops Merge's core molecular technologies, validates their performance in vitro and in vivo, and demonstrates their capabilities in animal models, building custom experimental setups and pipelines alongside engineers and data scientists.

About the role

This role develops molecular biosensors and actuators for BCI technologies: establishing experimental approaches to optimize delivery and functional expression in rodent models, characterizing tolerability and biological effects, benchmarking performance, and generating insights that guide next-generation design.

What you will do

• Own and scale in vivo validation pipelines in rodents, covering gene delivery, surgical workflows, sensory and behavioral paradigms, and ex vivo characterization.
• Optimize delivery vehicles, administration methods and parameters for robust, cell-type specific expression, and quantify outcomes at functional and molecular scale.
• Design and run in vivo experiments benchmarking biosensor and actuator performance in physiologically relevant contexts.
• Work with hardware engineers and platform teams on custom setups incorporating novel imaging and modulation instruments.
• Assess tolerability and biological effects, identifying practical levers that improve long-term tolerability while maintaining function.
• Recruit and mentor research associates as the effort expands.

You might thrive here if you have

• A PhD in neuroscience, biology or bioengineering, or equivalent experience leading research projects end to end.
• Expertise benchmarking and optimizing molecular tools in vivo, including viral delivery, advanced surgical procedures, histology, tissue clearing or expansion microscopy.
• Experience in rodent in vivo neuroscience using sensory or behavioral experiments with simultaneous imaging or stimulation.