Research Laboratory Technician II

Job description

The department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine located at USC Keck School of Medicine is seeking a full-time Research Laboratory Technician II to join our research team of highly skilled senior research associates or technicians, and junior faculty researchers. Under the direction of Principle Investigators, our research studies focus on peptidic effectors of mammalian innate immunity and for drug development.

Our laboratory employs an array of general scientific laboratory research practices and procedures including molecular biology, protein biochemistry, enzyme kinetic, immune signaling pathways, microbiology; and animal models for acute and chronic inflammatory diseases. Under direct supervision, he/she will be performing peptide drug susceptibility testing in rodent animal models following Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee approved protocols. He/she will be testing a library of synthetic peptides for their antimicrobial or immunomodulatory activities against panels of multidrug resistant bacteria (e.g. Klebsiella pneumoniae), or fungal pathogens (e.g. Candida albicans); and or for their efficacy in immune-related pathologies in rodents such as tumor growth, colitis or rheumatoid arthritis. The incumbent will employ sterile tissue culture techniques to grow and maintain, and use multi drug resistant organisms for infections under approved biosafety level 2 protocols.

The Research Lab Technician II will administer peptide treatment while collecting data for clinical/in-life presentation of disease (i.e. survivability, weight gain/loss, disease severity, mortality, and/or morbidity), post-mortem indicators of disease (i.e. bacterial or fungal burden). He/she will be responsible for obtaining, maintaining, and graphing of data. Technician will inoculate rodents with pathogens by intraperitoneal or intravenous injections and he/she will give drug treatment or placebos to infected animals, and harvest organs for histochemical analysis; collect blood for pharmacokinetics , and enumerate bacterial/fungal load as a function of peptide treatment. In our inflammatory disease models, maintaining a rodent colony, measuring weights and recording visual observations may be employed. Additional pharmacokinetics will be analyzed utilizing uninfected rabbits as a secondary model. Additional peptide libraries may be generated by recombinant expression. Candidate will need to complete animal tutorial training and receive required certification in general laboratory safety prior to any work performed in the laboratory.

Flexible hours will be required.

Previous general scientific laboratory research practices and rodent animal handling is required for this position.

This is a Grant Funded Position.

The University offers a competitive salary and benefit package.

Minimum Education: Associate's degree, Specialized/technical training, Combined experience/education as substitute for minimum education
Minimum Experience: 2 years
Minimum Field of Expertise: Working knowledge of laboratory equipment and research protocols. Knowledge of computer analysis techniques and ability to provide routine analysis and interpretation of research data.

USC is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law or USC policy. USC will consider for employment all qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring ordinance. We provide reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities. Applicants with questions about access or requiring a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process should contact USC Human Resources by phone at , or by email at . Inquiries will be treated as confidential to the extent permitted by law.

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