Research Technician

Research Technician

Caltech is a world-renowned science and engineering institute that marshals some of the world's brightest minds and most innovative tools to address fundamental scientific questions. We thrive on finding and cultivating talented people who are passionate about what they do. Join us and be a part of the diverse Caltech community.

The Bjorkman Lab in the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering is seeking a motivated individual to join as a Research Technician. The successful candidate will assist a multidisciplinary research team on one or more projects to study antibody response and immunization strategies as part of an effort to develop novel vaccines and antibody therapeutics against viral pathogens.

• Molecular biology tasks, including cloning (PCR, gel electrophoresis, sequencing, and validating constructs, etc.) and plasmid preparation.
• Transfection and maintenance of mammalian and yeast cell lines.
• Protein purification (affinity and size-exclusion chromatography).
• Western blotting and SDS-PAGE.
• Bioconjugations of proteins, ELISAs, and other assays.
• Flow cytometry and/or cell sorting.
• General lab duties, including buffer and reagent prep.
• Maintaining records.
• Other duties as assigned.

• BA or BS in Biology or related field, or an educational emphasis in Biology or Chemistry, required by date of hire.
• At least one year of hands-on wet lab experience in a biology or chemistry research laboratory.
• Must understand the basic workflow and operations of laboratory research processes.
• Must have good practical experience in all basic molecular biology techniques, especially the techniques related to the essential job duties.
• Experience with recombinant expression of proteins.
• Experience with purification of proteins ( e.g., affinity, size exclusion, etc.).
• Mastery of buffer prep and calculations.
• Excellent organization and communication skills (oral and written).
• Ability to work in a team environment.

• A background in immunology, molecular biology, or structural biology.
• Flow cytometry experience.
• Experience working with yeast and/or phage display systems.
• BSL-2 experience.
• Transfection and maintenance of mammalian or yeast cell lines.

• Resume
• Cover Letter