Full-Time
Laboratory Technician
ICP-MS
Subsense
11-50 employees
Develops noninvasive nanotech BCI devices
Compensation Overview
$75k - $90k/yr
Mountain View, CA, USA
In Person
Bachelor's, Associate's
 Biology & Biotech |
|---|
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- Hands-on experience operating and maintaining inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry instrumentation.
- An Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree in chemistry, analytical chemistry, materials science, nanoscience, chemical engineering, or a related scientific discipline, or equivalent hands-on laboratory experience.
- Experience working in a chemistry, analytical, materials, or research laboratory.
- Strong attention to detail and ability to follow analytical procedures consistently.
- Experience preparing samples, standards, reagents, and solutions using quantitative laboratory techniques.
- Comfort working with laboratory instrumentation and learning new analytical methods.
- Ability to maintain clear, accurate, and organized experimental records.
- Strong troubleshooting, organizational, and communication skills.
- Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively as part of a multidisciplinary team.
- Operate inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry instrumentation for routine and experimental trace-element analysis.
- Prepare samples, standards, blanks, and calibration solutions using appropriate clean-lab and contamination-control practices.
- Perform instrument calibration, tuning, quality-control checks, and routine system suitability testing.
- Execute established inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry methods and support the development, optimization, and validation of new analytical methods.
- Process, review, and document analytical data, including calibration curves, quality-control results, detection limits, and sample results.
- Identify anomalous results and assist with troubleshooting analytical, sample-preparation, and instrument-related issues.
- Perform routine preventative maintenance and coordinate more complex instrument servicing as needed.
- Maintain accurate laboratory notebooks, instrument logs, sample records, and experimental documentation.
- Manage inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry consumables, standards, reference materials, gases, and other laboratory supplies.
- Support general laboratory operations, including preparation of reagents and solutions, equipment upkeep, inventory management, and laboratory organization.
- Follow laboratory safety procedures and established protocols for handling acids, chemicals, samples, and laboratory waste.
- Collaborate with scientists and engineers to plan analytical work, interpret results, and improve experimental workflows.
- Contribute to the development of standard operating procedures, analytical procedures, and laboratory best practices.
- Support additional analytical and nanoscience laboratory activities as priorities evolve.
- Experience with trace metals or elemental analysis.
- Familiarity with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry sample preparation, including acid digestion, dilution, and contamination-control techniques.
- Experience with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry method development, optimization, or validation.
- Familiarity with analytical quality-assurance and quality-control practices, including blanks, spikes, duplicates, internal standards, calibration verification, and certified reference materials.
- Experience troubleshooting inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry components such as sample introduction systems, cones, vacuum systems, pumps, or autosamplers.
- Experience with other analytical techniques such as inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, atomic absorption spectroscopy, ion chromatography, or related instrumentation.
- Experience working in an R&D, startup, or rapidly evolving laboratory environment.
Subsense develops nanotechnology-based noninvasive brain-computer interfaces and medical devices aimed at treating neurodegenerative diseases. Its products are designed for daily, seamless use in healthcare, combining brain signal interfaces with nanotech to aid patients and clinicians. The company works with academic experts from ETH Zurich and Stanford to guide research and development, and plans to sell or license its BCI devices in Europe and the USA. Compared with competitors, Subsense emphasizes noninvasive, nano-scale interfaces and strong collaborations to translate research into market-ready medical devices. The overarching goal is to improve quality of life for individuals with neurodegenerative conditions by delivering practical, clinician-friendly BCI solutions.
Company Size
11-50
Company Stage
Early VC
Total Funding
$27M
Headquarters
California
Founded
N/A
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Subsense raised $27 million by December 2025, funding Palo Alto lab buildout.
- Early 2026 mouse proof-of-concept work targets Parkinson’s and epilepsy by end-2026.
- Kurzweil’s September 2026 advisory role can attract talent, partners, and investors.
What critics are saying
- Preclinical mouse work is still running in late 2026; human data is absent.
- Neuralink’s June 2026 $650 million round makes Subsense look undercapitalized.
- If nanoparticle biosafety or brain-targeting fails, the platform dies before FDA review.
What makes Subsense unique
- Subsense’s NanoBCI uses intranasal nanoparticles, avoiding skull surgery entirely.
- Ray Kurzweil joined September 3, 2026, giving Subsense unusual technical credibility.
- The company combines nanoparticles, external hardware, and AI for bidirectional neural interfaces.
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Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↑ 28%1 year growth
↑ 28%2 year growth
↑ 56%Silicon Valley startup Subsense is developing a non-surgical brain-computer interface using nanoparticles delivered through the nose. Founded around 2021-2022 by Tetiana Aleksandrova and Artem Sokolov, the company has raised $27 million in seed funding. The technology, called NanoBCI, uses plasmonic and magnetoelectric nanoparticles that work with a wearable headset to read neural signals and stimulate brain activity. Subsense is targeting neurological disorders including Parkinson's disease and epilepsy, aiming to demonstrate neural reading capabilities and symptom relief by end-2026. The company opened a laboratory in Palo Alto and began mouse proof-of-concept studies in late 2025, expected to conclude by late 2026. Subsense faces competition from surgical approaches like Neuralink, which has raised hundreds of millions, and Synchron, which secured over $100 million.
Subsense develops nanoparticle-based brain-computer interface with $27M in seed funding. The legendary AI futurist is teaming up with a Palo Alto startup that wants to create brain-computer interfaces through nasally delivered nanoparticles, bypassing surgery entirely. Ray Kurzweil, the AI scientist who has spent decades predicting the future with uncanny accuracy, is making a move into brain-computer interfaces. The legendary Google researcher is joining Subsense, a Silicon Valley startup working on what might be the most sci-fi sentence in all of neurotechnology: putting computers in the brain by snorting nanoparticles. Subsense announced the partnership at an event at its Palo Alto headquarters on Wednesday evening, with Kurzweil present. Founded around 2021-2022 by Tetiana Aleksandrova and Artem Sokolov, Subsense is developing what it calls NanoBCI, a non-surgical brain-computer interface that uses intranasally delivered nanoparticles. Rather than drilling into the skull, Subsense wants to deliver tiny particles through the nose that can then interface with neurons. The technology relies on two types of nanoparticles: plasmonic and magnetoelectric. These particles, once delivered, work in conjunction with a wearable headset to both read neural signals and stimulate brain activity. The immediate clinical targets are neurological disorders. Parkinson's disease and epilepsy sit at the top of the list. The company aims to demonstrate nanoparticle-enabled neural reading and symptom relief by the end of 2026. As of December 2025, Subsense had raised $27 million in seed funding. Part of that capital has gone toward opening a lab in Palo Alto and initiating mouse proof-of-concept studies, which began in late 2025 and are expected to wrap up by late 2026. Elon Musk's Neuralink remains the most high-profile player in brain-computer interfaces, having implanted its device in multiple human patients. Neuralink's approach is surgical: a robot drills into the skull and places ultra-thin threads into brain tissue. Synchron threads a device through blood vessels to reach the brain, avoiding open brain surgery but still requiring a medical procedure. Kernel has worked on non-invasive neuroimaging helmets. Precision Neuroscience uses a thin film placed on the brain's surface. Neuralink has raised hundreds of millions of dollars. Synchron has pulled in over $100 million. Subsense's $27 million in seed funding is modest by comparison.
Ray Kurzweil, the renowned AI scientist and Google researcher, is joining Subsense, a Silicon Valley startup developing brain-computer interface technology. The company announced Kurzweil's appointment as product and vision adviser at an event in Palo Alto on Wednesday. Subsense is working on a non-surgical approach to brain-computer interfaces involving charged nanoparticles introduced into the brain intra-nasally, similar to inhaling nasal spray. The particles would be controlled through a specialised cap containing magnetic coils to stimulate or read neuron activity. The technology remains years away from availability. Subsense, which has raised $27 million in funding, is currently conducting pre-clinical work and mouse experiments. The company aims to first develop medical applications before creating consumer products. Kurzweil will advise on the company's technology roadmap and the convergence of AI and neural interfaces.
AI Visionary Ray Kurzweil Joins Subsense as Product and Vision Advisor TMCnet News [September 03, 2026] | / | AI Visionary Ray Kurzweil Joins Subsense as Product and Vision Advisor Subsense, an AI-native neurotechnology company developing non-surgical, nanoparticle-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), today announced that renowned inventor, futurist and AI pioneer Ray Kurzweil has joined the company as a product and vision advisor. The announcement was made at The Subsense Annual Forum - AI Meets the Brain event, which brought together leaders across AI, neuroscience, BCIs and investing to examine where brain technology is headed and how the industry can advance while addressing questions around scalability, safety, privacy, consent and control. Kurzweil, a principal researcher and AI visionary at Google, has spent decades anticipating the convergence of AI, nanotechnology and the human brain. One of technology's most recognized futurists, he is known for forecasting major shifts in computing and AI that have since entered the mainstream. At Subsense, he will advise the company on its long-term product and technology development, exploring how the platform could evolve beyond its initial medical applications and what becomes possible as increasingly capable AI systems converge with new ways of accessing neural information. His advisory role complements Subsense's near-term scientific and clinical work by providing a broader perspective on how advances in AI and neural interfaces could ultimately reshape human-computer interaction. "For years, I have believed that the convergence of AI, nanotechnology and neuroscience could fundamentally change how humans interact with technology," said Kurzweil. "Subsense is pursuing an approach that brings those fields together in a particularly compelling way, with the potential to move brain-computer interfaces beyond today's surgical constraints and, over time, toward much broader applications." Kurzweil's involvement builds on a technological vision he began articulating ore than two decades ago. Writing about the future of human-computer interaction in 2003, he described nanoscale technologies as a potential alternative to fixed neural implants, stating, "Using nanobots as brain extenders is a significant improvement over the idea of surgically installed neural implants." Today, advances across nanoscience, neuroscience, AI and engineering are allowing researchers to investigate whether elements of that once futuristic vision can become scientifically achievable. "Ray has been thinking about the convergence of the brain and technology since long before most of the technologies needed to pursue it existed," said Tetiana Aleksandrova, co-founder and CEO of Subsense. "What makes this relationship so exciting is that we are now at a point where some of those ideas can move from predictions about the future into real scientific questions. We are incredibly proud to have Ray advising us as we work to answer them." Kurzweil has repeatedly predicted that the boundary between biological and non-biological intelligence will become increasingly fluid as computing advances. In a 2014 TED Talk, he described a future in which nanotechnology could "connect our neocortex to a synthetic neocortex in the cloud," allowing human intelligence to increasingly interact with computational intelligence. Subsense's immediate work is considerably earlier and more focused. The company remains preclinical, with teams developing and testing the nanoparticle systems, external hardware and computational infrastructure required for its approach. As a product and vision advisor, Kurzweil will provide perspective on Subsense's long-term technology roadmap, the convergence of AI and neural interfaces and how the platform could evolve as the underlying science matures. "Some of the ideas Ray has spent his career thinking about still belong to the future," Aleksandrova added. "Our job is to figure out, rigorously and step by step, which parts of that future we can begin building today." About Subsense Subsense is an AI-native neurotechnology company developing nanoparticle-based BCIs designed to access neural activity without permanently implanted electrodes. Its nanoBCI platform combines engineered nanoparticles, external hardware, physics-based navigation modeling and AI, with separate programs under development for neural stimulation and neural reading. Subsense is currently in the preclinical stage, with its initial medical work focused on applications in Parkinson's disease and ALS. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260903852715/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage] |
Subsense, Inc., a developer of non-surgical invasive, nanoparticle-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), has added $10 million in new capital following pos...