Cryo-FIB Research Specialist

Location: Northern

## Cryo-FIB Research Specialist Apply:
Janelia Research Campus:
Full time:
Posted Today:
R-4668

Primary Work Address: 19700 Helix Drive, Ashburn, VA, 20147## Current HHMI Employees,  to apply via your Workday account.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus is a pioneering research center in Ashburn, Virginia, where scientists pursue fundamental questions in the life sciences. Our integrated teams of biologists, computational scientists, and tool-builders innovate research practices and technologies to solve biology’s deepest mysteries. HHMI launched Janelia in 2006, establishing an intellectually enriching environment for scientists to do creative, collaborative, hands-on work.

We share our methods, results, and tools with the scientific community.  This is a role for someone who wants to spend their days at the controls of some of the most advanced microscopes in the world, doing the same careful prep and imaging work reliably, day after day, and building something new when the situation calls for it.  The cryoEM Shared Resource at Janelia Research Campus supports cryo-electron microscopy research for the entire HHMI community, not just the scientists on campus.

The facility runs four Titan Krios microscopes, two cryo-FIB/SEM systems (an Aquilos2 and a Helios Hydra), cryo light microscopes, and the equipment needed to prepare cryo-EM grids. It is one of the busiest, most technically demanding resources HHMI operates.  You will focus on cryo-FIB/SEM, cryo-light microscopy and CLEM, and advanced cryo-EM sample preparation. Most of your time goes to routine operation: preparing samples, milling with the FIB, imaging, and collecting data for facility users and collaborators.

When an existing protocol does not cover what a project needs, you will help build or adapt one. You will also keep up with the literature and emerging technologies in the field and bring back ideas that could make the facility better, and you will train other scientists in techniques you have already mastered.

You will work closely with facility staff and with research groups from across the country, some of whom you will never meet in person. Part of the job is translating what a researcher needs into a concrete imaging or sample-prep plan, and telling them plainly when something is not going to work.  
** What you will actually do*
* • Run sample preparation, cryo-FIB milling, and imaging for facility users and collaborative projects, day in and day out. This routine operation and data collection is the core of the job.
• Operate, maintain, and configure the cryo-FIB/SEM systems, cryo light microscopes, and sample-prep equipment.
• Collect and organize imaging and experimental data, and keep accurate daily records of instrument use and equipment performance.
• Judge whether an image, a milled sample, or a prep run is good enough to use, and know what to change when it is not.
• Troubleshoot problems across hardware, software, and technique, working through SOPs and literature before pulling in a vendor or colleague.
• Consult with researchers on experimental design and sample strategy, and guide them on what is feasible and realistic
• When an existing protocol doesn't cover what a project needs, build or adapt one, from sample prep through, FIB milling, imaging and data correlation.
• Review the scientific literature and new technologies, and bring back and implement ideas that could improve the facility's methods and capabilities.
• Train users and staff on cryo-FIB, cryo-CLEM, and sample prep workflows, including hands-on demonstration.
• Help plan facility capabilities, order supplies, and schedule instrument time.  
** What we are looking for*
* • Hands-on with cryo already. You've prepared samples,…