Research Assistant II - Asthma, Food Allergy and Allergic Diseases

Discover Vanderbilt University Medical Center:  Located in Nashville, Tennessee, and operating at a global crossroads of teaching, discovery, and patient care, VUMC is a community of individuals who come to work each day with the simple aim of changing the world. It is a place where your expertise will be valued, your knowledge expanded, and your abilities challenged. Vanderbilt Health is committed to an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and where your uniqueness is sought and celebrated. It is a place where employees know they are part of something that is bigger than themselves, take exceptional pride in their work and never settle for what was good enough yesterday. Vanderbilt’s mission is to advance health and wellness through preeminent programs in patient care, education, and research.

Organization:

Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

Job Summary:

Under moderate supervision, set up, conduct experiments, and continue research projects following protocols including the appropriate recording of data and reporting of standard or variant results. Assist in other laboratory and research functions.

Our lab is focused on understanding the mechanisms of asthma and food allergy with the goal of finding new and personalized treatments. We focus on using therapeutic interventions including GLP-1R agonists, other incretin agonists, and challenge procedures such as food challenges in patients with a history of food allergies. Our prime areas of interest include: obesity-associated asthma and alpha-gal food allergy syndrome.

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KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Integral team member to support the successful execution of clinical trials of new treatments for asthma and food allergy.

• Processing, storage, organization and shipping of samples collected in clinical trials for adults and children with asthma and food allergies.

• Close coordination with the clinical research teams enrolling study participants and completing research visits.

• Completion of basic laboratory assays including cell counting, cell culture, RNA extraction, qPCR, ELISA, staining for flow cytometry.

• Data reporting including data entry into centralized databases, basic data analysis, graphical representation for presentations and publications, and oral presentation to local research team and collaborators.

• Use of RedCap and other software systems to log and track specimens and data.

• Compliance with all regulatory and study specific requirements and training.

• Opportunities for large data set (RNAsequencing) analysis, platelet assays, and advanced flow cytometry methods including single-cell metabolism assays (SCENITH)

DEPARTMENT SUMMARY

The mission of the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine is to:

• Deliver world-class clinical care to patients with allergic diseases, pulmonary conditions, and critical illness through employing a collaborative, multi-disciplinary approach

• Lead in the development of cutting-edge, patient-focused research that extends from basic discoveries to clinical implementation

• Provide state-of-the-art education and training to inspire and nurture the next generation of leaders in allergy and immunology, pulmonary and critical care medicine, and interventional pulmonology

Our Academic Enterprise is one of the nation’s longest serving and most prestigious academic medical centers. Through its historic bond with Vanderbilt University and integral role in the School of Medicine, Vanderbilt Health cultivates distinguished research and educational programs to advance a clinical enterprise that provides compassionate and personalized care and support for millions of patients and family members each year.

World-leading academic departments and comprehensive centers of excellence pursue scientific discoveries and transformational educational and clinical advances across the entire spectrum of health and disease.

Aligning with Vanderbilt Health’s Strategic Directions, the Office of Research provides shared research resources, administrative expertise and professional guidance to enable the trans-disciplinary environment and highly collaborative