Principal Investigators (All Levels) - Generative Biology Institute

Job Summary:

Responsible for leading and managing an independent research group within the Generative Biology Institute (“GBI”), delivering a program of bold, ambitious and transformational research which is broadly aligned with GBI’s vision of making biology engineerable and unlocking its potential for good

Generative Biology Institute

The vision of the GBI is to lay the foundations for engineering biology, and unlock its potential for good. To achieve this, we must overcome two key challenges. First, we need the ability to write in the natural language of biology, enabling the rapid and scalable synthesis of entire genomes with precision. Second, we must understand what to write, determining which DNA sequences will generate biological systems that perform the desired functions. Addressing these challenges will allow us to harness the full power of biology to create transformative solutions across health, agriculture, clean energy and more.

Part of the Ellison Institute of Technology, Oxford (“EIT”), GBI is led by founding Director Jason Chin. It will house 30 groups and more than 500 researchers at scale, focused on solving the two critical challenges in making biology engineerable and applying the solutions to addressing the global challenges encapsulated in EIT’s Humane Endeavors.

GBI will have sustained and substantial funding to support the unique scale and ambition of its ground-breaking vision for engineering biology. GBI researchers will also be supported by cutting edge facilities including mass spectrometry, flow cytometry, sequencing, automation, scientific computing, bioinformatics, and machine learning. GBI will also have access to substantial compute resources that can be leveraged to further accelerate progress. The environment at GBI will allow researchers to undertake ambitious, long-term, collaborative research, and we will actively support the translation of research to commercial applications, where appropriate.

GBI will commence operations in 2025. The team will work from a purpose-made facility in the Oxford Science Park, currently under construction. Once complete, this state-of-the-art facility will include more than 40,000 m² of research laboratory and office space.

Ahead of the launch of GBI in Q4 2025, we are now accepting applications for Principal Investigator positions at all levels, including Senior Principal Investigator (equivalent to Tenured Professor) and Principal Investigator (equivalent to a Tenure-Track Professor) as we build a world-class faculty. We expect to make 5 or more appointments before the end of 2026, with further appointments in 2027 and 2028 as we scale.

Ellison Institute of Technology, Oxford (“EIT”)

EIT’s purpose is to have a global impact by fundamentally reimagining the way science and technology translate into end-to-end solutions and delivering these solutions in programs and platforms that respond to humanity’s most challenging problems.

EIT is investing significant resources in a new world-class research and development facility in the Oxford Science Park, including GBI. EIT is committed to cultivating a community where excellence is achieved through collaboration, trust, innovation and tenacity. We foster an environment where everyone’s experience and expertise are valued. We are curious and resilient in our efforts to drive long-term, sustainable innovation to meet humanity’s most enduring challenges.

Key Responsibilities:

• To set the research direction for your group and ensuring research activity is consistent with that direction and directly relevant to GBI’s vision.
• To recruit and manage a group of outstanding researchers, which may include postdocs, doctoral students (in partnership with the University of Oxford, we are establishing a doctoral programme in Generative Biology with up to 20 fully funded doctoral student positions per year), research assistants and other scientists.
• To mentor highly promising early career researchers to achieve the group’s goals and progress their aligned career objectives.
• To collaborate with other groups within GBI and with colleagues within the broader EIT family to deliver bold, ambitious and transformational research that would not be possible within an individual group.
• To help shape the facilities in GBI as part of the scientific strategy for delivering GBI’s vision.