Research Technician

Site: The General Hospital Corporation

 

Mass General Brigham relies on a wide range of professionals, including doctors, nurses, business people, tech experts, researchers, and systems analysts to advance our mission. As a not-for-profit, we support patient care, research, teaching, and community service, striving to provide exceptional care. We believe that high-performing teams drive groundbreaking medical discoveries and invite all applicants to join us and experience what it means to be part of Mass General Brigham.

 

 

Job Summary

Summary:

Help with general lab maintenance and ordering of supplies; maintain lab stocks, manage chemical inventory and safety records, and provide general lab support as needed (e.g. ensuring common reagents are aliquotted/stocked for the lab, maintaining inventories of the lab’s cell lines, ensuring original stocks of cell lines are maintained by expanding them and banking them).



Assist with documenting lab stem cell protocols. Systematic generation and maintenance of database/inventory of all lab supplies, cell lines, reagents, etc. Maintain compliance with safety, biohazard and radioactivity guidelines. Communicates and coordinates with all lab members to ensure adherence to lab protocols.



Assist with orientation and training of new staff or students on lab procedures or techniques.



Assisting lab personnel with routine experiments (including maintenance and expansion of stem cell lines; differentiation of stem cell lines into neural cells, glia and microglia; and other basic biology techniques such as RNA extractions, protein isolation, flow cytometry, quantitative PCR, cloning, etc).



Document, compile, and analyze information obtained from laboratory experiments.



Perform ongoing literature review to remain current with new procedures and related research; apply to ongoing research and development of new protocols.



Contribute to publication of findings as needed. Participate in the preparation of written documents, including procedures, presentations, and proposals.

 

Qualifications

Education
Bachelor's Degree Science required

Can this role accept experience in lieu of a degree?
Yes

Licenses and Credentials

Experience
Relevant research and data management experience 1-2 years required

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
- Good interpersonal and communication skills.
- Careful attention to detail.
- Excellent organizational skills and ability to prioritize a variety of tasks.
- Intermediate computer literacy including database tools.
- Knowledge of data management programs.
- Ability to follow directions and exhibit professionalism, and work more independently.

A part-time research technician position is available in the Laboratory of Dr. Sundari Chetty in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School. The overarching goal of the Chetty lab is to understand the mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia, and identify novel therapeutic targets based on these mechanistic insights. In particular, the lab has been investigating the mechanisms underlying brain overgrowth or undergrowth in these disorders using human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) technology. 

The candidate will be responsible for maintaining and differentiating several patient-specific iPSC lines into the neuronal and glial lineages (in two-dimensional and brain organoid models) to investigate changes at the cellular, functional, and mechanistic levels using a broad range of techniques from RNA sequencing, genome editing, to functional assays in in vitro and in vivo models.  The candidate will also be responsible for a variety of tasks including help manage lab supplies (including maintaining detailed databases/inventory of all lab supplies and protocols), onboard new lab members, and assist lab personnel with routine experiments (e.g. maintaining and expanding stem cell lines, RNA and protein isolations, flow cytometry, histological analyses, immunostaining, microscopy, quantitative PCR, etc). Prior experience with cell culture techniques and genome editing are highly desirable. The position will also involve collaborations with other labs at MGH, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute working on related questions.

For more information about Dr. Chetty's lab, please visit the lab's website at:

https://chettylab.com/

Minimum degree and field of knowledge: Bachelor's or Master’s degree in biology, genetics, neuros