Research Assistant I - Allergy, Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine

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:

The Laboratory of Science and Translation in Critical Illness (LSTCI) conducts a wide range of research, from basic science to large scale clinical trials, in a wide variety of critically ill patients and transplant recipients. Your role, under direct supervision, will be to support clinical and laboratory research teams. Additionally, you will assist in general lab operation and maintenance.

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KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Under supervision, assist the clinical team with the collection, processing, storage, and inventory of human biospecimens.

• Work with senior lab members to learn new lab specific techniques

• Conduct biomarker studies on clinical samples by preparing dilution plates, running ELISA assays, analyzing data, and communicating experimental results to the team

• Assist LSTCI graduate students and fellows by preparing and executing mechanistic experiments, including cell culture or animal studies

• Assist with experimental and clinical data collection and organization, keeping an up-to-date laboratory notebook and record of data/sample acquisition

• Work both independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team

• Understand and follow Vanderbilt Health safety protocols, including the use of combustibles, toxic, and biohazardous materials.

• Operate lab equipment: centrifuge, pH meter, autoclave, spectrophotometer, analytical balance, etc.

• Attend weekly lab meetings being present and prepared to share experimental results.

• Maintain the laboratory by inventorying supplies, monitoring lab storage units, and cleaning and maintaining labware and equipment.

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 culture that advances discovery and training for all the research faculty, trainees, students and staff. 

Core Accountabilities:

Organizational Impact: Delivers job responsibilities that impact own job area/team with some guidance. Problem Solving/ Complexity of work: Uses existing procedures, research and analysis to solv