Research Services Professional Entry - Principal

Position: Research Services Professional (Open Rank: Entry - Principal)
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Department:
Pharmacology

Job Title:

Research Services Professional (Open Rank: Entry - Principal)

Position #  

- Requisition #40415

Job Summary:

As a Research Services Professional in the Brambati Lab, you will gain valuable new skills at the bench while leveraging your strong organizational skills to manage a new and growing research group within the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine's Anschutz Medical Campus. A central responsibility of this position is serving as the tissue culture lead for the lab: maintaining cell lines, organizing supplies and reagents, upholding standard procedures, and managing iPSC culture and neuronal differentiation.

No prior experience with iPSCs is required; full training will be provided. Any prior tissue culture experience is a plus.

This position is open to all qualified and motivated individuals and may be of particular interest to those preparing to apply to medical or graduate school. The lab environment provides exposure to a broad array of concepts and techniques related to molecular biology research on DSB repair using cancer cells and stem cells as a model system. Our goal is to put your existing skills to use while exposing you to new idea and techniques that benefit your career goals and the lab's overall productivity.

Key Responsibilities:

Entry Level

* Collaborate with and support Principal Investigators (PI) and other stakeholders with laboratory, research, and administrative functions.

* Learn and utilize a variety of laboratory techniques required for research projects. Depending on existing expertise and personal interests, these techniques may include:

* Transformation, bacterial culture, and mini/midi-preps for plasmid DNA purification.

* PCR, DNA digestion, and gel electrophoresis.

* Western blotting.

* CRISPR-Cas9-based assays and screening.

* Tissue culture management: serve as the lab's tissue culture lead under training and supervision. Organize tissue culture supplies and reagents and maintain all cell lines, with a particular focus on stem cell preparation, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and their differentiation into neurons. No prior iPSC experience is required; training will be provided. Any prior tissue culture experience is considered a plus.

* Immunostaining for protein localization studies.

* Confocal microscopy for high-resolution imaging.

* Generation of CRISPR-Cas9 knockout (KO) human cell lines.

* You do not need to be an expert in all techniques listed, although it would be helpful if you are familiar with some of them.

* Prepare lab for daily operations by ensuring safety and cleanliness.

* Manage and maintain laboratory reagents and inventory.

* Manage procurement via departmental software platform.

* Maintain inventories of critical lab reagents and equipment.

* Handle delivering, receiving, and retrieving frozen samples from freezers and physical inventory of frozen samples in
-20 and
-80C freezers.

* Coordinate equipment maintenance as necessary.

* Dispose of laboratory materials and samples using well-established guidelines and instructions.

* Review and implement lab support policies, practices, and programs to meet organizational, operations, and management needs.

* Ensure compliance with applicable laws, rules, and regulations; receive guidance and direction or escalate when required.

Intermediate Level (in addition to all Entry-level duties)

* Independently and creatively identify laboratory solutions.

* Independently review, develop, and implement new or modified laboratory techniques required for research projects.

* Assist Team Leads, Supervisors, and/or management with creation and implementation of processes and procedures and quality improvement initiatives.

* Assist and train junior team members.

Senior Level (in addition to all Intermediate-level duties)

* Assist Team Leads, Supervisors, and/or management with creation and implementation of processes and procedures and quality improvement initiatives.

* Assist and train junior team members.

* Assist with developing or develop protocol-specific systems and documents including process flows, training manuals, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Maintain experimental documentation and prepare protocols, equipment, and supplies.

* Provide laboratory science expertise and leadership in study design, experimental oversight, data management, data analysis, and manuscript preparation to assist all levels of investigators and researchers.

Principal Level (in addition to all Senior-level duties)

* Act as a Subject Matter Expert and authority in the area(s) of DNA repair and/or stem cell biology.

* Assist the PI with design, writing, and preparation of funding applications.

* Oversee and provide informal leadership to team members, including managing day-to-day priorities, evaluating and redistributing workloads on a temporary basis, and mentoring staff.

* Provide input and feedback to leadership on team members' overall…