Animal Lab Tech I - Comparative Medicine

About the role

The Animal Lab Technician I (ALTI) is an entry-level position for technicians with less than one year of experience in the husbandry of laboratory animals. This role supports groundbreaking research by performing animal husbandry tasks under direct or indirect supervision, ensuring the highest quality of ethical, humane, and appropriate animal care.

Responsibilities

• Sanitizes primary enclosures either by cage changing (e.g., rodents) or enclosure wash and disinfection (e.g., swine and canine), including high-pressure washing, disinfectant handling, and waste management.
• Assists in routine and special feeding, watering, handling (safely transferring animals from one enclosure to another), and changes cages and sanitizes primary enclosures for all species housed in the vivarium.
• Follows written and verbal instructions to provide special diets and medicated water to animals in the vivarium.
• Provides care for both immune-competent and immune-compromised animals, which may also be designated as biohazardous or chemically hazardous.
• Performs a basic assessment of animal general appearance, clinical signs, and behavior to recognize normal vs. abnormal conditions in animals.
• Reports abnormal conditions in animals to the clinical team for further assessment, including overcrowding and non-compliance related to animal welfare and health.
• Assists clinical and research staff with animal handling and basic treatments of all rodents (teeth trimming, separation, euthanasia).
• Performs veterinary-related tasks post-training by Clinical Staff and maintains clinical records as required; rodent breeding tasks may be performed as needed.
• Provides species-specific environmental enrichment to animals according to Comparative Medicine standards.
• Assists with animal receiving as instructed by the Animal Care Coordinator.
• Monitors animal room environmental parameters (e.g., temperature, photoperiods, and humidity), accurately records environmental data, and reports abnormalities to ALTIII or Supervisor.
• Assists the ALTIII and/or area Supervisor with vivarium support tasks, including but not limited to Reverse Osmosis/Deionized water system checks, Individual Ventilated Cage rack cycling, and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), feed, and bedding inventory audits.

Requirements

• A High School Diploma/GED is required; a bachelor's degree is preferred with relevant coursework in laboratory animal sciences.
• Assistant Laboratory Animal Tech (ALAT) certification from the AALAS is preferred.
• Valid and current driver's license is required.
• One (1) year of animal husbandry experience is preferred.

Skills

• Ability to learn, apply, and maintain compliance with the rules and regulations governing the care and use of animals in research.
• Ability to provide and/or support a level of work excellence and accuracy; recognize and address flaws or errors that others may overlook.
• Ability to document tasks in an orderly, timely, and accurate manner.
• Ability to convey and/or receive written/verbal information to/from various audiences in different formats.
• Able to follow written and oral instructions in English.
• Ability to handle multiple demands and/or manage complex and competing priorities.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Windows; ability to learn other systems that support operations in the vivarium.
• Collaborates to problem-solve and make decisions to achieve desired outcomes.
• Establishes effective working relationships with cross-functional teams.
• Cultivates and maintains strong customer relationships and rapport with stakeholders and/or client groups.
• Shares knowledge, time, and expertise to assist other members of the team.
• Ensures practices and procedures are inclusive of interpersonal and cultural diversity.
• Identifies and responds appropriately to both internal and external customer needs utilizing available resources.