Research Assistant

Job Description

We are currently seeking a self‑motivated and highly organized research assistant to support the lab of Dr. Price

E. Dickson at the Joan

C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University in Huntington, WV.

• Behavioral neuroscience
• Recombinant inbred mouse panels
• Operant conditioning
• Intravenous drug self‑administration
• Machine learning approaches for analysis of mouse behavior
• Omics approaches including bulk, single‑cell, and spatial RNA-seq
• Bioinformatics analysis of omics data
• Calcium imaging techniques including fiber photometry and miniaturized microscopes
• Behavioral testing of mice
• Learning and implementing surgical techniques in the laboratory mouse including intravenous jugular catheterization and stereotaxic surgery
• Maintaining a colony of experimental mice (~200 cages)
• Tissue harvesting and preparation of tissue samples for sequencing
• Coordinating these tasks with a team of technicians, doctoral students, and research scientists

MUSOM - Marshall University School of Medicine

Salary is commensurate with qualifications, education, experience, and internal equity.

• Bachelor’s degree in neuroscience, psychology, biology, or a related field. A Master’s Degree would be beneficial but is not required.

Experience with the following techniques would be beneficial but is not required:

• Research experience using mice or rats
• Previous experience with one or more of the techniques used in Dr. Dickson’s laboratory
• Building and troubleshooting computer workstations in both Windows and Linux environments
• LLM‑facilitated computer programming in Python or R
• Computer‑aided design and manufacturing in aluminum and plastic using the following tools:
  Fusion 360, CNC router, lathe, 3D printer

• A master’s degree would be beneficial but is not required.

• Previous experience with one or more of the techniques used in Dr. Dickson’s laboratory would be beneficial but is not required.