Lab Manager - Biological Sciences; Behringer Lab

Lab Manager - Biological Sciences (Behringer Lab)

Vanderbilt University invites applicants for the Lab Manager position in the Behringer Lab within the Department of Biological Sciences.

Position Summary:

The Lab Manager is an essential member of the research team responsible for supporting the research, organization, and day‑to‑day operations of the lab. This includes maintaining daily lab operations, ordering supplies, reconciling expenses, maintaining equipment, coordinating repairs, ensuring lab safety, establishing protocols, overseeing long‑term co‑culture and assessment of experimental evolution cultures, mentoring graduate and undergraduate students, and organizing meetings and events.

In addition, the Lab Manager conducts directed research, generates data, and assists in manuscript preparation. Experience in CRISPR, cell culture, nucleic acid extraction for NGS sequencing, and project organization are required.

The Lab Manager reports directly to Dr. Megan Behringer (Principal Investigator) and works regularly with other members of the Behringer Lab to ensure the long‑term co‑culture and assessment of experimental bacterial populations under various biotic and abiotic stressors is continuously maintained.

The team is young, vibrant, and dedicated to understanding fundamental biological processes within a collaborative environment. The major research focus is understanding how stress influences population dynamics within a 2‑strain model community, aligning with the lab’s global interests in microbial evolution under stressful environments.

The Department of Biological Sciences supports a broad spectrum of biology, from molecules and cells to ecosystems. Faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers collaborate across the department and with adjacent departments. The Behringer Lab typically hosts 8‑12 personnel, including the Lab Manager, a postdoctoral associate, 3‑5 graduate students, 1 research assistant, and 3‑4 undergraduates. The lab emphasizes experimental evolution, systems microbiology, multi‑omics, genetic reconstruction, and high‑throughput phenotyping, producing high‑impact papers and training graduates for top programs and industry.

• Perform directed research, including managing long‑term cultures, conducting nucleic acid extraction, and preparing samples for core sequencing facilities.
• Optimize new culture strategies to expand investigations to additional stressors.
• Assist in reconstructing key mutations underlying bacterial adaptation.
• Mentor and onboard new lab members, ensuring completion of necessary training.
• Organize lab operations: order and receive reagents, maintain chemical inventories and safety protocols, and schedule meetings and events.
• Work with the PI to hire research assistants, including posting job descriptions and conducting candidate interviews.

• Bachelor’s Degree in Biology, Ecology/Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Science, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, or a related field.
• Minimum 5 years of laboratory experience.
• Prior experience in cell culture and DNA extraction.
• Experience with CRISPR editing (preferred).
• Experience managing laboratory operations and mentoring (preferred).
• Ability to work respectfully in a collaborative environment that values honesty, integrity, and accountability.

The Lab Manager will supervise graduate students, undergraduates, and research assistants on complex laboratory procedures. This position reports administratively to the department administrative manager and functionally to the PI.

Mid‑Senior level

Full‑time

Research, Analyst, and Information Technology

Higher Education