Core Manager Senior Research Associate I, Specialized Technical Skills (STS)

Description

Date: November 2025

Title: Core Manager Senior Research Associate I, Specialized Technical Skills (STS)

Department: Center for RNA Science and Therapeutics

School: Medicine

Location: Wood

Supervisor Name and Title: Joseph Luna, Assistant Professor

 

POSITION OBJECTIVE

The Advanced RNA Profiling Core’s mission statement is to promote the research goals of CWRU and tasked with providing cutting-edge transcriptomic techniques for the biomedical community of North-East Ohio and beyond. The Core Manager Senior Research Associate I, Specialized Technical Skills (STS)  will manage the Core and its staff to accomplish the Advanced RNA Profiling Core’s mission to serve internal and external core users and will provide scientific leadership to core staff and core users on the utilization and application of complex and unique techniques.

The Core Manager Senior Research Associate I, Specialized Technical Skills (STS) will oversee and lead the implementation and utilization of highly advanced and unique RNA centric transcriptomic profiling techniques to generate Next-Generation Sequencing libraries, organization of the sequencing as well as data analysis and interpretation.

The Core Manager Senior Research Associate I, Specialized Technical Skills (STS) will partner with Principal Investigators and other PhD level scientists to advise and provide scientific insight on project plans and grant submissions integrating the use of the complex Ribosome Profiling and eCLIP techniques, including the customization of the protocols to push the boundaries of how these techniques can be implemented. The Core Manager Senior Research Associate I, Specialized Technical Skills (STS) will supervise and oversee the work of core staff and provide in-depth training to core users. The Core Manager Senior Research Associate I, Specialized Technical Skills (STS) will also present data and findings at lab and scientific meetings, seminars, etc., prepare manuscripts, and contribute preliminary data for grant proposals.

The Core Manager Senior Research Associate I, Specialized Technical Skills (STS) is responsible for customer contact and for the integration of the different aspects of each customer project. This requires advanced skills in RNA Science and Computation as well as excellent communication and organizational skills. The position requires a PhD in a relevant field with focus on RNA Science and advanced computation skills.

It is expected that the leadership provided by the Core Manager Senior Research Associate I, Specialized Technical Skills (STS) will lead to future grant funding and greater application of complex and unique services such as Co-CLIP, Single Cell Ribosome Profiling, and Long Read direct RNA sequencing that will revolutionize transcriptomic and RNA interactome research.

 

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

1. Advise core users on advanced RNA profiling techniques such as Ribosome Profiling, eCLIP, 3’ End sequencing, and similar approaches. The incumbent must be well versed in the many RNA profiling techniques and be able to guide users to implement Ribosome Profiling, eCLIP, and RNA-seq for their studies. Advise users on how to set up and prepare for the experiments; this expertise is essential to the core. (12%)

2. Perform and oversee NGS library preparation, including quality controls. Advise and troubleshoot any and all abnormalities which may arise. Design and optimize protocols as new technology becomes available (25%)

3. Advise core users how NGS Ribosome Profiling and eCLIP data in analyzed in a meaningful way. Collaborate with users and advise on image processing for optical data results. Oversee appropriate data analytics and database management systems in order to handle large amounts of data (as large as a several terabytes) that will be generated by Illumina sequencing and subsequent data processing, mapping, and analysis. Advise users and bioinformatician on bioinformatics pipeline development and translational efficiency analysis. (17%)

4. Collaborate with Principal Investigators to develop project plans and grants submissions, serving as the subject matter expert on RNA transcriptomic techniques and the application of the Core’s services and systems to advance research objectives and create opportunity for future grant funding. (10%)

5. Manage/track income, usage of all equipment for budget planning. Establish future budgets based on past spending and future needs. Develop pricing strategy for new services and equipment. Oversee and manage the core billing and service scheduling software.