Media Optimization & Design Intern

About us

Based in Berkeley, CA, UPSIDE Foods grows meat, poultry, and seafood directly from animal cells.  These products are not vegan or vegetarian—they are delicious meat, made without the need to raise and slaughter billions of animals. UPSIDE Foods recently became the first company in the world to receive the US FDA greenlight for cultivated meat, and UPSIDE’s cultivated chicken will be available to consumers following USDA inspection and label approval. 

Founded as the world’s first cultivated meat company in 2015, UPSIDE Foods (formerly Memphis Meats) has achieved numerous industry-defining milestones, including being the first company to produce multiple species of meat (beef, chicken, and duck). The company believes that people shouldn’t have to choose between the foods they love and a thriving planet, and is working to build a better food system with access to delicious, humane, and sustainable meat, poultry, and seafood. UPSIDE Foods has won various industry awards, including New York Times’ Good Tech Awards, FastCo’s Next Big Thing in Tech, and the Best and Brightest Companies to Work For in the Nation by the National Association for Business Resources. UPSIDE Foods has raised a total of $608 million, including from the Abu Dhabi Growth Fund (ADG), Baillie Gifford, Bill Gates, Cargill, John Doerr, John Mackey, Kimbal and Christiana Musk, Norwest, Richard Branson, Softbank, Temasek, Threshold, Tyson Foods, and others. 

About this internship

The cultivated meat industry has emerged as one of the most innovative ways to fight climate change and ensure food security for our future. This Cell Culture Media Optimization and Design (MOD) Intern role will build skills that are highly desirable and hard to find within this growing industry. The MOD intern will be responsible for running experimental designs to optimize our cell culture media. To achieve this, the intern will learn many higher-level skills that are advantageous for those looking to thrive within the biopharma and cultivated meat industries: media manufacturing and statistics-based experimental design skills such as PCA, DoE, and more! Once trained, you will help establish multiple new media prototypes and test these formulations within our processes to grow tasty meat for a better future!

Responsibilities include

• Learning and utilizing higher-ordered analysis to design new media formulations
• Cell Culture media development and manufacturing
• Mammalian and avian cell/tissue culture techniques
• Data analysis and interpretation
• Regular communication of results with greater CCM team

About you

• Current Junior or Senior Undergraduate or Master’s Student, with a focus in cell biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, or closely related science
• Mammalian or avian tissue culture techniques
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced and cross-functional environment
• Experience using Microsoft Excel or JMP (optional)

Who you’ll work with

• You will directly report to a Sr. Research Associate and work with the Media Optimization and Design team to make safe, cost-effective, and animal component free cell culture media
• You will also collaborate with our Media Manufacturing team to understand how media is constructed

Length of internship

• 10-12 weeks

Compensation Range: $25/hr-$28/hr*
*Pay may vary depending on factors including job-related knowledge and skills.

UPSIDE Foods is an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. Our company-wide mission is to create a product for everyone, so we are deeply committed to having teams and leaders that reflect this mission.