Researcher, Research​/Development, Biomedical Science

The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Neurobiology, is in search of a Researcher to join their team.

As a Researcher, you will play a key role in driving scientific discovery by independently leading and executing research projects. This professional-level position demands a high degree of expertise and judgement in designing studies, analyzing data, and may involve assistants in publishing findings. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams, manage project timelines, and contribute to grant writing and securing funding for future research.

Depending on the research focus, this position may involve research collaborator contact, research animal contact, and/or specimens.

In Vivo Animal Work Project Assistance (approx. 30%) Direct Animal Handling:
Work directly and daily with laboratory mice, including handling and monitoring animal health and welfare.

Colony Management:
Oversee the mouse breeding colony, coordinate weaning, interface with outsourced genotyping services, and maintain genotyping and health records.

Surgical Behavioral Support:
Learn, perform, or assist with stereotaxic surgeries (e.g., viral injections, intracranial implantations for two-photon imaging) and assist with mouse operant drug-seeking behavioral tasks.

Lead Researcher

Collaboration:

Actively step in to assist with postdocs' and graduate students' ongoing projects as necessary, helping with data collection whenever available.

Lab Management Operations (approx. 30%) Regulatory Compliance:
Ensure strict adherence to institutional animal care (IACUC), biosafety (IBC), and environmental health and safety (EHS) protocols.

Procurement Inventory:
Oversee purchasing of equipment, reagents, and surgical supplies.

Lab Organization:
Coordinate regular maintenance of lab equipment (e.g., stereotaxic setups, behavioral rigs) and help maintain general lab cleanliness and organization.

Personnel Coordination:
Serve as the primary point of contact for lab onboarding, safety training, and scheduling as necessary

Two-Photon Pipeline Data Analysis (approx. 35%) Data Pipeline Processing:
Develop, optimize, and maintain automated Python workflows to pre-process, segment (ROI extraction), motion-correct, and clean high-dimensional calcium imaging datasets.

Neural-Behavioral Alignment:
Synchronize time-locked, millisecond-resolution population neural time-series data with precise behavioral tracking from operant drug-seeking sessions.

Computational Encoding Analyses:
Implement statistical and machine learning frameworks to decode predictive neural activity patterns that precede drug-seeking behaviors and map post-behavior feedback signals.

Hormonal and Sex-Difference Curation:
Organize and analyze datasets to evaluate the modulating effects of changing hormonal baselines and directly profile variance across biological sex cohorts.

Code Management Infrastructure:
Maintain clear, well-documented code repositories using Git/Git Hub to preserve data reproducibility and manage the lab's local data storage server or cloud compute clusters.

Perform other duties as assigned.

$50,050- $55,000

Master's degree in a related field OR Bachelor's degree in related field and two (2) years of related experience OR Associate's degree in related field and four (4) years of related experience required or High School diploma or GED and six (6) years of related experience required. Work experience may NOT substitute for education requirement.

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Neuroscience, Biomedical Engineering, Data Science, Computer Science, or a closely related quantitative scientific discipline.

Strong foundations in computational neuroscience, neural data science, or…