Senior Entomologist

We are seeking a contract Senior Entomologist to serve as the scientific lead for Colossal Biosciences’ New World Screwworm (NWS; Cochliomyia hominivorax) Biobanking Program, a multi-phase effort to establish a secure, traceable genetic baseline for NWS populations across North and Central America before, during, and after gene drive deployment. This role will design and execute the standardized fitness-validation battery for fresh and cryopreserved (thawed) screwworm cohorts, lead the field collection strategy across active outbreak regions, and oversee live-colony rearing in partnership with COPEG and USDA-APHIS. The Senior Entomologist will act as the central point of scientific accountability for the program — from protocol design and field deployment through data analysis, interpretation, and reporting to federal and partner stakeholders.

This is a 6 month contract position that includes collections trips. You do not need to be based on-site in Dallas but do need to be available for travel.

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as scientific lead for the NWS Biobanking Program, owning experimental design, protocol standardization, and interpretation of results across Phase 1 (Fitness Validation), Phase 2 (Biobanking), and Phase 3 (Embryology Production) as activated. • Design, implement, and quality-control the nine-trait fitness battery — mating latency, copulation duration, fecundity, egg hatch rate, larval viability (1st–3rd instar and 3rd instar–pupa), adult eclosion and sex ratio, flight performance, and host-seeking latency — across CF-Gen1, CT-Gen1, CF-Gen2, and CT-Gen2 cohorts. • Establish and enforce strict standardization of temperature, humidity, photoperiod, age at testing, diet, handling, and observer methods so that cryopreservation-associated fitness effects can be distinguished from normal biological variation. • Lead statistical analysis of fitness data, including calculation of Hedge’s g effect sizes and percent-difference comparisons relative to the CF-Gen1 baseline, and determine whether observed effects persist, recover, or change across generations. • Direct the mobile field collection team across priority outbreak regions in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and southern Mexico, targeting 600–900 individuals from confirmed breeding populations. • Oversee field collection methods including wound sampling from naturally infested animals, Swormlure-4 baited trapping, rotted-liver bait stations for gravid females, and controlled oviposition on heated substrates to meet live-material targets (2,500+ fertile eggs, 1,200+ larvae, 280+ mated pairs). • Coordinate with local veterinarians, livestock facilities, COPEG operations, and ongoing eradication efforts to secure site access, maintain cross-border coordination, and ensure enhanced biosecurity protocols in active outbreak zones. • Oversee live-colony rearing, larval diet preparation, pupation, and eclosion procedures in coordination with COPEG animal care protocols and Arthropod Containment Level 3 (ACL-3) requirements. • Develop sample chain-of-custody, labeling, metadata, and quality-assurance procedures for live and non-live genetic material entering the biobank in accordance with established biobanking standards. • Prepare detailed protocols, standard operating procedures, equipment specifications, and training materials for laboratory technicians and field personnel. • Deliver weekly progress updates and monthly scientific reports to program leadership; prepare data summaries, statistical analyses, and technical narratives for federal and partner stakeholders and regulatory review. • Provide entomological guidance to embryology, cryopreservation, and cell-culture teams on screwworm developmental biology, reproductive behavior, and host-seeking ecology to support colony reconstitution and restoration success metrics. • Support post-intervention monitoring design, including documentation of genetic bottlenecks, founder effects, and population dynamics during range expansion. • Contribute to peer-reviewed publications, technical reports, and presentations that communicate program findings to the scientific and regulatory communities.