Core Facility Research Assistant - Microbiome Core Facility

About the role

The Microbiome Core facility provides a centralized resource for all researchers to determine the role of microbiome in health and disease. The Department of Pathology is seeking a Core Facility Research Assistant to perform established protocols developed by the Core director and/or users of the Core. This position will also help to develop new/additional protocols based on new information in the literature.

Duties

• Routine laboratory reagent preparation and storage, equipment and supplies acquisition and maintenance
• Routine work for function of the Microbiome Core such as performing quantification and quality control checks on isolated DNA/RNA, and preparing sequencing libraries for high-throughput platforms
• Contributing to the functioning of the Microbiome Core Laboratory by maintaining a clean work area, attending staff laboratory and research meetings, and recording results, observations, and interpretations for every experiment according to laboratory guidelines
• Manages administrative duties such as Core facility service tracking, generating customer usage metrics, and preparing routing billing/invoicing logs for core users.

Required Qualifications

• Requires a Bachelor’s degree in a biological science, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Experience in experimental biology, especially nucleic acid extraction and purification, gene amplification, and human sample processing
• Experience in designing experiments, gathering and recording data, and presenting of results
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Proficiency in computer software applications
• Ability to manage complex information with attention to detail and a high level of accuracy

Highly Desired Qualifications

• Prior experience with clinical research, human sample collection, and human sample processing
• Prior experience with polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
• Prior experience with RNA or DNA extraction and quantification

Desired Qualifications

• Prior experience with preparing samples for NextGen sequencing
• Prior experience with handling of sequencing data and microbiome analysis
• Prior experience with laboratory organization and/or management
• Knowledge of University of Iowa policies, procedures, and regulations

Position and Application details

This position is 100% time, Monday through Friday. In order to be considered for an interview, applicants must upload the following documents and mark them as a “Relevant File” to the submission:

• Resume
• Cover Letter

Job openings are posted for a minimum of 7 calendar days and may be removed from posting and filled any time after the original posting period has ended.

Successful candidates will be required to self-disclose any conviction history and will be subject to a criminal background check and credential/education verification. Up to 5 professional references will be requested at a later step in the recruitment process.

For additional questions, please contact Brenda Carey via email at brenda-carey@uiowa.edu.