Senior Research Technician

Department

BSD MED - Gastroenterology - Cheng Research Staff

About the Department

The Section of Gastroenterology, Hepatology at The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the best specialty nationally by U.S News and World Report. With nearly 30 specialists on staff, our program plays a leading role in the understanding of digestive diseases and in developing innovative and successful treatments for patients. Since forming the nation’s first full-time department of gastroenterology in 1927, our physicians have continually improved treatments for digestive tract and related disorders by combining medical research, education, and patient care at the highest level.

Job Summary

The Section of Gastroenterology is looking for a Senior Research Technician with a strong background in microbiology to join our interdisciplinary team to help design and perform research experiments. The Cheng lab is seeking a highly motivated laboratory technician to characterize human gut microbiome metabolism, isolate human gut microbial strains from gut communities, build synthetic gut microbial communities for experimentation, and drive experimentation on patient and synthetic gut communities. These activities will facilitate our joint laboratory goals of understanding how our gut microbiomes modulate disease. As our Senior Research Technician, you will be responsible for batch and bioreactor culturing patient gut microbial communities, isolating bacterial strains from patient gut microbial communities, and building experimental and therapeutic complex microbial communities.

This position offers training in anaerobic microbiology, metagenomic sequencing, and the opportunity to participate in extensive academic collaborations with national and international labs. You will be joining an inclusive and supportive group whose mission is to advance both the science and team!

Responsibilities

• Design and execute batch fermentation and bioreactor fermentation experiments.

• Design and implement culture and enrichment (culturomics) strategies to isolate human strains from fecal and small intestinal microbial community samples.

• Design, implement, and optimize bacterial community production processes including maintaining pure cryo-stocks of human-derived anaerobic microbes and pathogens, reviving and scaling up microbial cultures from cryo-stocks.

• Collaborate with staff scientists, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students to design and assemble custom synthetic microbial communities for experimentation.

• Support scientific and research programs related to basic science and translational research about the human gut microbiome; analyze data, monitor and oversee experimental processes, and design and develop assays, specialized equipment, and/or systems.

• Supervise maintenance of cryo-stock database and quality control of cryo-stocks and communities.

• Perform and supervise quality assessment of stocks and communities through single colony isolation, 16S, and next generation sequencing techniques.

• Maintain documentation related to research studies and protocols.

• Modify, repair, and troubleshoot anaerobic microbiology culture equipment and experimental systems.

• Oversee the work of technicians and staff associated with the group/projects and provide guidance to technicians, operators, and others as needed.

• Liaise between researchers, students, technical staff, scientists, vendors, and other university staff; serve as a resource, providing training and practical guidance.

• Communicate progress or problems to PIs or managers routinely.

• Attend and contribute to discussions during lab meetings.

• Make contributions to lab management by ordering equipment and supplies, generating reagents, and ensuring lab compliance with safety and animal welfare regulations.

• Takes responsibility for the following laboratory duties: recognizing abnormal results and varying conditions or procedures to correct problems; setting up and performing experiments. Analyze the meaning, significance, causes, and effects of the subject.

• Applies research principles and relevant subject matter knowledge relevant to administer a research project. With a moderate level of direction, manages lab and/or research-related duties and tasks. Helps develop, design and conduct research projects according to plan.

• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

Education:

Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

Work Experience:

Minimum requirements includ