Staff Research Associate 3

Job Posting Details (External)

• Position Number:
• Payroll
  
  Title:
  
  SRA 3 RX (009611)
• Job Code: 009611
• Job Open Date: 07/31/2026
• Application Review Begins: 08/17/2026
• Department Code (Name): NRII (NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH INST)
• Percentage of Time: 100
• Union Code (Name): RX-Research Professionals
• Employee Class (Appointment Type):
  Staff:
  Career
• FLSA Status:
  Exempt
• Classified Indicator Description (Personnel Program): PSS
• Salary Grade: STEPS
• Pay Rate/Range:
  The budgeted salary range that the University reasonably expects to pay for this position is $75,437.68 to $86,680.15/year. Salary offers are determined based on final candidate qualifications and experience; the budget for the position; and the application of fair, equitable, and consistent pay practices at the University. The full salary range for this position is $75,437.68 to $/year.
• Work Location:
  
  Biological Sciences II building, Room 3156
• Working Days and
  
  Hours:
  
  M-F, 8-5
• Benefits Eligibility:
  Full Benefits
• Type of Remote or Hybrid Work Arrangement, if applicable:
  Hybrid (Both UC & Non-UC locations)

The Neuroscience Research Institute is an organized research unit whose mission is to foster knowledge and understanding of the nervous system by serving as a center for scientific research breakthroughs. The NRI is a group of investigators whose collective goal is to create an intellectual atmosphere conducive to exploration at the frontiers of human knowledge where disciplinary boundaries disappear. Investigators in the NRI recognize that the interests of neuroscience extend broadly from repair and prevention of human disease to the principles that underlie the earliest nervous systems, from the human mind to the single molecular building blocks of the brain.

This position is based in the laboratory of Associate Professor Maxwell Wilson, which combines optogenetics, synthetic biology, and laboratory automation to study cell signaling dynamics and operates the Robotic Synthetic Biology Bio Foundry.

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Full-time position in the laboratory of Associate Professor Maxwell Wilson in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. The Staff Research Associate 3 will design and build genome-editing libraries in budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) using the MAGESTIC platform and will carry out the computational analysis that supports this work, in support of a DARPA-funded synthetic biology project (DARPA GO) that engineers light-controlled genetic systems in yeast.

Primary duties include designing guide RNA and donor / repair libraries and their associated barcodes, processing synthetic oligonucleotide pools, performing high-throughput molecular cloning, transforming and constructing yeast strains, running pooled growth and selection experiments, and preparing samples for next-generation sequencing. The position also develops and runs computational pipelines for library design, barcode and variant counting, and screen analysis, and manages the resulting datasets.

Additional responsibilities include maintaining shared instruments and the laboratory's automation and liquid-handling systems, managing strain and plasmid collections, training students and researchers in yeast genome-engineering and MAGESTIC workflows, and coordinating with project collaborators. Other duties include general laboratory upkeep, preparation of stock solutions and reagents, and regulatory and biosafety compliance.

• Bachelor's degree in molecular or cell biology, biochemistry, genetics, genomics, bioinformatics, or a related field; equivalent experience and / or training may substitute
• 1-3 years Hands-on molecular biology and genetics in budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), including transformation, strain construction, and use of selection markers
• 1-3 years High-throughput or library-scale molecular cloning, such as pooled oligonucleotide libraries, Golden Gate, or Gibson assembly
• 1-3 years CRISPR / Cas genome editing in microbial or eukaryotic systems
• 1-3 years Programming and scripting for biological data analysis in Python and / or R, including processing of next-generation sequencing data
• 1-3 years Reliable, organized, and detail-oriented, with the ability to track and manage large numbers of parallel samples and experiments
• 1-3 years Construction of MAGESTIC or comparable pooled, barcoded CRISPR editing libraries

• Master's degree In molecular or cell biology, biochemistry, genetics, genomics, bioinformatics, or a related field
• PhD in molecular or cell biology, biochemistry, genetics, genomics, bioinformatics, or a related field
• Less than 1 year Laboratory automation and…