Research Specialist

Full-time/Part-time Permanent/Time-Limited

Full-time/Part-time Permanent/Time-Limited Full-Time Permanent

If time-limited, estimated duration of appointment

One of the best college towns and best places to live in the United States, Chapel Hill has diverse social, cultural, recreation and professional opportunities that span the campus and community.

University employees can choose from a wide range of professional training opportunities for career growth, skill development and lifelong learning and enjoy exclusive perks for numerous retail, restaurant and performing arts discounts, savings on local child care centers and special rates on select campus events. UNC
-Chapel Hill offers full-time employees a comprehensive benefits package , paid leave, and a variety of health, life and retirement plans and additional programs that support a healthy work/life balance.

Our mission is to improve the health and well-being of North Carolinians and others whom we serve. We accomplish this by providing leadership and excellence in the interrelated areas of patient care, education and research.

Patient care:
We promote health and provide superb clinical care while maintaining our strong tradition of reaching underserved populations and reducing health disparities across North Carolina and beyond.

Education:

We prepare tomorrow’s healthcare professionals and biomedical researchers from all backgrounds by facilitating learning within innovative and integrated curricula and team-oriented interprofessional education to ensure a highly skilled workforce.

Research:
We develop and support a rich array of outstanding health sciences research programs, centers and resources. We provide infrastructure and opportunities for collaboration among disciplines throughout and beyond our university to support outstanding research. We foster programs in the areas of basic, translational, mechanistic and population research.

Under supervision of the Principal Investigator, this position will be tasked with performing both lab managerial and advanced cellular and molecular biology experiments to support research projects investigating the genetic variants associated with psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. Lab managerial duties include ordering, receiving, and documenting reagents, supplies, and equipment; ensuring that the lab complies with mandated safety protocols; disposal of chemical and biohazard waste;

and maintaining equipment in good working condition. Cellular and molecular biology experiments include fluorescence-activated cell sorting and high-throughput genomic library generation. This will require generating massively parallel reporter assay (MPRA), perturb-seq, RNA‑seq, and DNA‑seq libraries; generating viral plasmids that can transduce human neural cells and mouse tissues; performing multiplexed reporter assays; performing PCR and gel electrophoresis; primary neuronal cell culture and transduction;

mouse colony maintenance and tissue harvest, preparing buffers, solutions, and chemicals for lab experiments; data analysis and interpretation; maintaining database of experimental results; assisting with grant applications and publications; providing technical assistance in the lab, including assisting other members of the lab; and assisting with training of lab assistants and students.

Bachelor’s degree in a discipline related to the area of assignment; or equivalent combination of training and experience. All degrees must be received from appropriately accredited institutions.

The ideal candidate will have a strong work ethic, be highly organized, have the ability to multi-task, communicate clearly, promote and participate in collaborative endeavors, take initiative, and be intellectually vested in lab’s research goals. Candidates with previous experience in the molecular biology lab are preferred.

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