Lab and Research Technician - Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology

Virginia Commonwealth University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action university providing access to education and employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, political affiliation, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or disability.

Position Summary:

The laboratory technician will assist the Principal Investigator and senior scientists with extramurally funded research projects that seek to understand the cellular and molecular control of the immune response. The goals of the research projects will be to:

Establish cellular therapies for the prevention of graft versus host disease post allogeneic bone marrow transplant

Evaluate genes that control ribosome biogenesis in development thymocytes to understand the concept of cellular fitness in biological outcomes

For this research, the successful candidate must have outstanding experience with flow cytometric analysis (FACS) of complex immune populations, preferably using spectra flow; expertise with handling genetically engineered mouse models; expertise with the preparation of mouse tissues such as the thymus, spleen, lymph nodes and bone marrow; expertise with the generation of bone marrow chimeric mice. Basic molecular biology and general lab skills are also required. General lab and equipment maintenance, monitoring and ordering reagents, training new lab personnel and assistance with the mouse colony are also requirements.

Core Responsibilities:

1.) Under the direction of the PI, carry out mouse-based immunology experiments

• Generation of bone marrow chimeric mice for the study of GVHD
• Analysis of gene mutations that impact cellular fitness
• FACS analysis of developing thymocytes
• FACS analysis of developing invariant natural killer T (NKT) cells
• Functional analysis of T cells and NKT cells
• Monitoring disease progression
• Immunological analysis of mice

2.) Laboratory maintenance

• Ordering supplies
• Helping maintain lab cleanliness
• Be responsible for monitoring and reporting lab safety issues
• Training new lab members in FACS analysis, mouse dissection and other basic skills

3.) Maintaining proper records

• Diligently keep laboratory notebook of all experiments
• Track use of key reagents

4.) Assisting other lab members with experiments, as directed by the PI

• Support experiments by preparing cells, reagents, etc.
• Start or complete experiments if lab member has other obligations