Research Assistant II - Neuroscience

Summary

The St-Pierre lab develops and applies new tools to monitor and interrogate brain activity. We seek a motivated team member to support both lab-wide productivity and specific projects. This position involves a mixture of lab management (including ordering, managing the inventory, and keeping equipment and infrastructure in optimal condition) and experimental work (molecular cloning, mammalian cell culture, and/of fluorescence imaging). Successful candidates should be exceptionally well organized, enjoy managing several tasks in parallel, and display effective documentation and teamwork skills.

Job Duties

• Receive and process orders.
• Maintain lab inventory (molecular biology supplies, cell culture supplies, plasticware, general lab stock) and rebalance stock across floors as needed.
• Prepare and maintain common reagents.
• Schedule lab group and subgroup meetings, including reserving meeting rooms.
• Maintain shared lab infrastructure (cold room, freezers, water levels in incubators/water baths, autoclaving, biohazard and hazardous waste disposal).
• Operate a liquid handler for automating lab experiments (e.g. transfections).
• Culture mammalian cells, including thawing, passaging, transfecting, and freezing cells.
• Conduct molecular cloning, including assembling new plasmids via In-Fusion assembly and constructing mutagenesis libraries.
• Acquire images by widefield fluorescence microscopy.
• Plans, directs and conducts research experiments.
• Evaluates and analyzes data.
• May conduct literature searches and summarize information in an appropriate format for a particular study.
• Documents results of experiments and reports to principal investigators.
• May train and orient less experienced research staff.
• Performs other job related duties as assigned
• Oversees the maintenance of lab equipment and environment.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a Basic Science or a related field. 
• Three years of relevant experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in basic science or a related field.
• Molecular cloning and cell culture experience.