Hourly Lab Technician - Dept. of Anatomy and Neurobiology

Virginia Commonwealth University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action university providing access to education and employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, political affiliation, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or disability.

Position Responsibilities:

Opportunity to conduct cutting edge experimentsusing optogenetics in the field of neuroscience, exploring mechanisms ofdevelopmental epilepsy and malformed structures, and physiological effects andpotential treatments of traumatic brain injury. Lab Technician will takeprimary role in maintaining a clean laboratory space, preparing solutions, performingimmunohistochemical staining, morphological studies involving confocalmicroscopy, electrophysiological experiments, and helping to maintain a mousecolony and generating experimental animal models.

Qualifications:

Laboratoryand/or animal handling experience preferred. Knowledge and/or experience with the following preferred: handlingand/or breeding rodents, proper methodology for making molar solutions, performingimmunohistochemical studies, performing electrophysiological recordings, andusing advanced microscope techniques. Ability to learn new software programs quickly and to adjust schedule todemands of experiment required. Proficiency with Excel, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft PowerPoint, andEndNote preferred. Demonstrated experience working in and fostering an environment of respect, professionalism and civility with a population of faculty, staff, and students from various backgrounds and experiences, or a commitment to do so as a hourly employee at VCU.

Core Responsibilities:

1.) Breedingand maintaining transgenic mouse colonies and experimental animals

• Maintaining the proper numbers of animals neededfor all lab workers to conduct experiments; 2) Proper breeding (based ongenotype) of mice to generate animals for use in experiments; 3) Maintenance ofrecords that show all aspects of animal care, use and breeding, with mlimssoftware; 4) Performing surgery or procedures to create experimental animalsfor studies in epilepsy and neurotrauma; 5) Ordering lab supplies as needed

2.) Immunohistochemistry, Western Blots, Confocal Microscopyand ImageJ Analysis

• Cardial perfusion of rodents and preparation ofthe brain for immunohistochemistry; Vibratome sectioning of the braintissue; Immunohistochemical staining of brain sections to reveal antigens,with triple labeling in each section; Determining the best protocol andprocedures for obtaining proper immunohistochemical labeling with antibodiesnew to the lab; Use of the confocal microscope to take appropriately locatedimages for data analysis; Analysis of number of cells and staining intensityof cells or structures in ImageJ; Use of Neurolucida software to draw andanalyze individual labeled cells; Performing Western Blot collection andanalysis of data.

3.) Electrophysiology

• Maintain laboratory solutions, includingartificial cerebrospinal fluid; Prepare live brain slices; Field potential recordings from corticalregions; Whole cell patch clamprecordings from single cells; Optical activation of specific cell typesbased on mouse breeding (optogenetics); Labeling of recorded cell; Dataanalysis of recordings; Graphical demonstrations of analysis; Writtensummary of methods and results.

4.) Clean Laboratory spaces and equipment

• Laboratory table tops are consistently clean,free from dust; Laboratory balances and stirrers are clean and free ofchemical debris; Laboratory equipment is free from dust; Cold stones areclean and not sticking together.

The School of Medicine continuously strives for our workplace and learning environment to reflect the demographic and social milieu of the communities we serve. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply.

This is a restricted position with no set end date and continued employment is dependent upon project need, availability of funding, and performance.

Salary Range: $15/hr

Position Details:

Department: Anatomy and Neurobiology
Employment Type: H1 - Hourly
Restricted Status: Yes
FTE: 0.50
Exemption Status: Non-Exempt

Contact Information:

Contact Name: SOM HR

Contact Email:

Contact Phone: