UNIV - Research Specialist III - Pediatrics: DCRI

Job Description Summary

Cancer research laboratory in the Darby Children’s Research Institute at Department of Pediatrics has a job opening for a research technician II position. The lab uses in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo models as well as bioinformatics tools to elucidate the intracellular drivers of pediatric brain tumor growth.

Entity

Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC - Univ)

Worker Type

Employee

Worker Sub-Type​

Research Grant

Cost Center

CC001013 COM PEDS Children's Research Institute CC

Pay Rate Type

Salary

Pay Grade

University-06

Pay Range

46,655.00 - 66,488.00 - 86,321.000

Scheduled Weekly Hours

40

Work Shift

Job Description

Cancer research laboratory in the Darby Children’s Research Institute at Department of Pediatrics has a job opening for a research technician II position. The lab uses in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo models as well as bioinformatics tools to elucidate the intracellular drivers of pediatric brain tumor growth.

The selected candidate will provide intellectual and technical support for RNA sequencing, single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomic analysis as well as to be responsible for the computational maintenance and logistical organization of a translational science laboratory. We seek a highly motivated individual with previous experience in omics and molecular biology. The candidate will also be responsible for working with faculty in the Department of Pediatrics to assist with their research needs related to artificial intelligence (AI).

Candidate should send CV and a list of three references directly to Dr. Jezabel R Blanco by email (rblanco@musc.edu).

Collaborate with wet-lab and computational teams to employ various omics approaches for testing and refining biological hypotheses. (Essential 20%)

Upstream processing of omics’ data (QC, normalization, exploratory data analysis) (Essential 20%)

Downstream processing of bulk, single-cell and/or spatial transcriptomics data (e.g., cell type annotation, differential gene expression analysis, gene set enrichment analysis, visualization, etc.) Use statistical and machine learning techniques to find relationships in complex biological data (Essential 20%)

Responsible for keeping accurate and documentation of bioinformatic pipelines, etc. (Marginal 5%).

Participate and lead monthly meetings with the DCRI faculty and its members to educate researchers in the use of AI tools (Essential 15%)

Complete xenograft and allograft mouse tumor models, including implantation of tumor cells, compound dosing, and in vivo tumor growth assessment. Tissue and cell isolation from mice, followed by immunohistochemistry, microscopy and a variety of cellular and molecular biology procedures (Marginal 10%)

Maintain several cell cultures and primary cultures in vitro. Bacterial recombinant DNA work and lentiviral production for in vitro transfection and transduction experiments. Perform a number of cell and molecular biology procedures, such as cell viability, IF, FACs analyses, immunoblotting, PCR, qPCR, reporter assays…) (Marginal 5%)

Participate in laboratory meetings, manuscript and grant preparation as deemed appropriate by the PI (Marginal 5%)

Minimum education: Bachelor’s degree in Biology, Chemistry, Molecular Biology or other life science required. 

Preferred Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: Strong organizational, record keeping, interpersonal and communication skills required. Should be familiar with high-performance computing systems, shell scripting in a Linux environment, and have facility with R and/or Python including relevant bioinformatic packages (e.g, Seurat, Deseq2, etc.). Prior experience with omics analysis and machine learning techniques is desirable. Must be able to perform complex calculations, to follow complicated experimental procedures and methods and develop independence with tasks and experiments. Some weekend, holidays and/or evenings may be required.

Additional Job Description

Minimum Requirements: A bachelor's degree in chemistry, biology, or other natural, life or health care science directly related to the assigned area of research and two years advanced journey-level work experience in a clinical or research setting.

Physical Requirements: (Note: The following descriptions are applicable to this section: Continuous - 6-8 hours per shift; Frequent - 2-6 hours per shift; Infrequent - 0-2 hours per shift) Ability to perform job functions in an upright position. (Frequent) Ability to perform job functions in a seate