Research Assistant III Lab

Job Description

The Nascent Transcriptomics Core at Harvard Medical School is seeking a Research Assistant III to join our team. Analysis of nascent RNA – RNA actively being made – can reveal details of transcriptional responses to drugs and other perturbations in a way that other RNA sequencing methods can miss. For this reason, nascent RNA‑seq methods in conjunction with Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology are quickly becoming the first choice for revealing direct targets of gene regulation and the identification of regulatory elements such as enhancers.

The Core isolates nascent RNA using biochemical methods and uses it to construct high‑quality NGS libraries, oversees sequencing, and provides users with actionable, analyzed data. We make nascent RNA techniques and analyses available to the general research community on a fee‑for‑service, customer‑oriented basis.

The Research Assistant III reports to the Director of the Nascent Transcriptomics Core (NTC) and is responsible for constructing high‑quality nascent RNA libraries for NGS, optimizing methods for their construction, and analyzing the data. This position offers the opportunity to learn cutting‑edge NGS methods and nascent RNA library construction strategies, gain experience with nascent RNA data analysis, contribute to projects of direct biomedical relevance, and provide a valuable, collaborative service to the scientific research community at Harvard Medical School and the greater Boston area.

The samples handled by the NTC are often precious and difficult to replace. Consequently, this position demands exceptional attention to detail. It also requires the experience and discretion to interpret and precisely execute complex and lengthy molecular biology protocols, coordinating across steps so that projects are completed efficiently and with minimal waste. The NTC also works to refine our methods to increase robustness, reduce sample input requirements, and extend the range of possible sample types.

The successful applicant must be highly organized, focused, and able to work efficiently and independently on multiple tasks with deadlines. They should be able to independently conduct experiments relevant to method optimization and contribute to the design of these experiments. The work environment is highly collaborative, thus the successful candidate must work well as part of a team in addition to being able to work effectively independently, and possess strong interpersonal and communication skills.

Above all, successful candidates need to be committed to providing a high quality of service to users of the Core.

• Receive and perform quality control (QC) on cells and materials from users.
• Construct NGS libraries according to established protocols.
• Perform QC on constructed libraries using qPCR, Tape Station, gel electrophoresis, etc., and submit for high‑throughput sequencing.
• Analyze users' data following established pipelines and scripts.
  • Interpret analysis results and investigate potential problems.
  • Prepare data packages for users.
  • Keep detailed, accurate, up‑to‑date records of all samples and experiments.

• Maintain laboratory stocks and replace as needed.
• Maintain laboratory records.
• In consultation with the core director, devise and execute experiments to test protocol improvements.
• Advise users on sample preparation.
• Other laboratory duties as assigned by the core director.

• Bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Biochemistry, or related discipline, or 4 or more years of laboratory experience in these or related disciplines.
• 2 years of direct work experience in the laboratory setting.

• Demonstrated knowledge of general molecular cloning techniques, and basic laboratory procedures (PCR, qPCR, nucleic acid ligation, buffer preparation, etc.).
• Experience with RNase free techniques.
• Experience with NGS library construction (RNA‑seq, ChIP‑seq, etc).
• Familiarity with Linux command line, shell script, or R.
• Knowledge of bioinformatics related to NGS data analysis.
• Experience with mammalian tissue culture and aseptic technique.
• Exce…