MRICD Behavioral, Physiological & Biochemical Evaluation in Multiple Mammalian Models: Bachelor

Organization

U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)

USAMRDC-MRICD-

The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense (USAMRICD) is the Department of Defense's lead laboratory for medical chemical defense research. As a subordinate element of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC), the institute conducts research for development of medical countermeasures to treat exposure to various chemical threat agents for protection of soldiers and civilians. Scientific disciplines at USAMRICD include, but are not limited to, chemistry, biology, biochemistry, pharmacology, molecular biology, neuroscience, toxicology, physiology, psychology, and immunology.

Visit us on Facebook at  USAMRICD is offering an opportunity for current students or recent bachelor's degree graduates.

As the selected candidate, you will have the opportunity to collaborate as part of a multi-disciplinary team endeavoring to discover, evaluate, and advance our understanding of threats, their mechanism(s) of injury, and potential mitigation strategies, particularly medical countermeasures capable of providing safe and effective prophylaxis and/or treatment against these diverse threats. As a part of the mission, threats and therapies must be evaluated behaviorally and physiologically in a diversity of animal species, often including rodents, swine, and nonhuman primates.

It is essential to collect sensitive behavioral data to comprehensively evaluate functional efficacy and safety. Prediction of human health impacts is a key goal, and behavioral, physiological, and biochemical changes will be closely examined using a tiered approach to reach programmatic goals for each specific threat. To this end, our laboratory is seeking a participant who is capable and willing to participate in many aspects of this program of research in the context of an immersive, educational science internship to advance the mission of the USAMRICD by assisting in the conduct of behavioral, physiological, kinetic, and pharmacology/toxicology studies in diverse mammalian species.

Under the guidance of a mentor, you will learn and gain hands‑on experience to complement your education and support your academic and professional goals. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Learning operant behavioral testing techniques
• Conducting compliance training
• Participating in Bio sampling
• Learning about physiological instrumentation
• Developing recording and analysis skills
• Engaging in data management
• Learning software applications
• Applying accurate record keeping
• Learning the principles of science and study design underpin