Lab Technician (Hourly), Department of Surgery

Overview
A laboratorytechnician position is available in the Department of Surgery at VirginiaCommonwealth University. The successfulcandidate will be working in a very active, enthusiastic and highly dynamic pre-clinicaltranslational research laboratory. Weare seeking a highly motivated individual.
Job duties will include the following:

• Making of general laboratory reagents (e.g. buffer preparation)
• Laboratory stock maintenance and ordering
• General laboratory maintenance (e.g. glass washing and laboratory tidying as needed)
• Maintain breeding colonies of genetically engineered mice including maintaining accurate and up to date records
• Collect mouse breeding colony tissue samples and processing for genotyping that requires animal handling skills

The applicant should be enthusiastic in expanding their role to include the following:

• Learning and then successfully performing preparation of small animals for anesthesia and surgery, performing the small animal surgeries themselves, drug treatment, monitoring the animal's recovery after surgery, and required institutional record keeping
• Learning and then successfully performing daily post-operative animal care with 100% compliance with VCU IACUC protocols and record-keeping
• Learning and then successfully performing small animal behavioral testing (e.g. motor function, cognition, depression and pain)
• Learning and then successfully performing small animal transcardial perfusions, tissue preparation, cryostat sectioning, fluorescent immunohistochemistry, and stereological cell counts
• Learning and then successfully performing fresh tissue dissection, and techniques including Western blotting QPCR, and flow cytometry
• Learning and then successfully performing in vitro culturing of either cell lines or primary cell cultures

Although hours are expected to be between Monday to Friday (8.30am -5.00pm), some weekend work will likely be required on an as needed basis (e.g. breeding colony monitoring and potential post-operative animal care).
Required Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in a related field
• General laboratory skills (e.g. buffer preparation)
• Ability to keep accurate records of daily procedures in a laboratory notebook (rigorous scientific record keeping required)
• Data entry using Microsoft Excel
• Ability to work in a diverse environment required

Preferred Education & Experience

• Master's degree

Salary Range: $14-$16
Position Details:
Department: Surgery
Employment Type: H1 - Hourly
Restricted Status: Yes
FTE: 0.5
Exemption Status: Non-Exempt