Lab Research Analyst Ii

School of Medicine Established in 1930, Duke University School of Medicine is the youngest of the nation's top medical schools. Ranked sixth among medical schools in the nation, the School takes pride in being an inclusive community of outstanding learners, investigators, clinicians, and staff where interdisciplinary collaboration is embraced and great ideas accelerate translation of fundamental scientific discoveries to improve human health locally and around the globe.

Composed of more than 2,600 faculty physicians and researchers, nearly 2,000 students, and more than 6,200 staff, the Duke University School of Medicine along with the Duke University School of Nursing, and Duke University Health System comprise Duke Health, a world-class academic medical center. The Health System encompasses Duke University Hospital, Duke Regional Hospital, Duke Raleigh Hospital, Duke Health Integrated Practice, Duke Primary Care, Duke Home Care and Hospice, Duke Health and Wellness, and multiple affiliations.

The David Lab at Duke University ((Use the "Apply for this Job" box below).) is recruiting a Laboratory Research Analyst II to join a team of scientists developing and using new DNA sequencing tools to study diet. We are particularly interested in creating new ways to measure and analyze food intake, which is essential for monitoring and improving human health. We are developing new DNA sequencing-based techniques that track the dietary plant and animal species people consume.

Our techniques generate objective data on intakes of over 900 plant and animal species, robust to differences in memory/recall, and standardized across languages and cultures using the universal language of DNA. We collaborate with researchers and communities across North Carolina and the world. Our studies will also create new models of disease risk and examine geographic, cultural, behavioral, and socioeconomic determinants of diet.

Our projects are funded by awards from Schmidt Sciences, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the National Institutes of Health, the Gerber Foundation, and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.

We seek a Laboratory Research Analyst II to take on independent responsibility for analyzing the lab's research data and for communicating its findings through technical and scientific writing. Scientific writing is at the heart of this role: the analyst will translate complex genomic analyses into high-quality manuscripts, progress reports, technical documentation, and figures, and will confer with the Principal Investigator on preparing scientific manuscripts for publication.

Alongside this writing focus, the analyst will plan and interpret complex genomic studies, evaluate and interpret data, help shape experimental and analytical plans, stay current with the scientific literature, support compliance around human biospecimens, and mentor junior personnel. The role suits an experienced, scientifically trained individual who exercises independent judgment and writes clearly and compellingly about genomics, nutrition, and the gut microbiome.

• Prepare laboratory findings for publication and progress reports, including reviewing raw data, advising on how it should be formatted and plotted, and contributing to figure design.
• Draft and edit technical writing to describe the lab's research, and confer with the Principal Investigator on the preparation of scientific manuscripts for publication. The analyst may also contribute to the preparation of research proposals.
• Produce and maintain clear technical documentation of the lab's methods, analyses, and results, and help edit and strengthen the scientific writing of trainees and other lab members.

• Independently evaluate and interpret research data and prepare reports and analyses setting forth project progress, trends, and conclusions.
• Confer with the Principal Investigator on research plans and on the interpretation of results across the lab's concurrent studies.

• Assist in the planning, development, and implementation of laboratory efforts to develop genomic techniques for dietary reconstruction and microbiome profiling, including identifying relevant sample controls and judging whether sample calibration and quality checks have been successful.
• Plan and review both short-term and long-term experimental plans and analytical goals; recognize unusual outcomes in genomic studies and suggest how to address them; and help design experiments for publication as well as preliminary studies and approaches for future work.

• Stay current with the scientific literature to identify new experimental and analytical techniques that could be adopted by the lab, and identify relevant research published externally that could complement ongoing work.

• Receive training in and help manage the ethical and regulatory documents…