Summary

This position will lead all animal studies in a biomedical research lab. This position is responsible for the breeding, genotyping, and maintaining of mouse transgenic colonies, drug delivery, surgical procedures, organ collection, performing functional assessments on mice, and monitoring mice throughout studies. Previous extensive mouse-handling experience in an academic research lab is required to apply. The ideal candidate will help to intellectually and technically drive mouse projects, can troubleshoot effectively, can work independently with minimal supervision and as part of the team.

Job Duties

• Plans and executes mouse studies.
• Works with the PI, candidate interprets the needs of research goals and grant aims to design appropriate mouse studies.
• Communicates with animal facility to maintain compliance with animal care protocols.
• Monitors mice during studies to identify sick animals and provide palliative care.
• Coordinates research staff activities during surgeries and tissue collections.
• Prepares and archives record sheets for animal care, substance administration, anesthesia, and tissue collection.
• Ensures lab compliance with Baylor’s rules and regulations for animal care.
• Prepares for and represents the lab in semiannual site inspections by the IACUC.
• Performs mouse surgeries and functional assessments; performs surgical prep, post-operative care, anesthesia, CO2 euthanasia, collects blood, and dissects organs.
• Candidate will be trained to perform tracheotomy followed by pulmonary function test (Flexivent) on anesthetized mice.
• Performs in vivo drug delivery; prepares and administers drugs (oral gavage, IV, oropharyngeal, intranasal, retro-orbital, intra-peritoneal, and subcutaneous).
• Manages mouse breeding colonies; coordinates breeding of mice and weans pups.
• Collects tail biopsies from mice and performs PCR genotyping.
• Maintains meticulous genotyping records and provides accurate inventories of mouse numbers in all colonies.
• Processes mouse specimens; isolates plasma and PBMCs from whole blood, isolates cells from BALF, and processes tissues for isolation of protein, RNA, or DNA.
• Maintains accurate summaries of frozen tissues, histology, and processed samples.
• Performs cell culture experiments and biochemical assays as needed to support research goals. May handle human samples.
• Analyzes and interprets data; graphs data with GraphPad Prism, interprets findings, writes technical reports, presents results to team, and recommends future directions.
• Reviews scientific literature to identify new assays/procedures, develop/improve existing lab methods, or summarize content areas for PI.
• Prepares data for manuscript and grant submission.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a Basic Science or related field.
• Four years of relevant experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in a related field.