Lead Technologist

About the role

The Lead Animal Technologist reports directly to the Animal Resources Facility (ARF) Technical Services Manager or Technologist Supervisor, providing animal clinical care and treatment to research animals as prescribed by the ARF Technical Services (TS) Manager or Technologist Supervisor and as directed by the Attending Veterinarian.

Key responsibilities

• Under the direction of the TS Manager/Supervisor, may be responsible for packing and shipping sentinel animals to Charles River Laboratories for diagnostic testing.
• Sex and wean mice; identify animals by ear punch, ear tag number or toe clip.
• Perform injections (IV, IP, SC, IM, ID) and blood sampling techniques as assigned by TS Manager or PT to TS projects.
• Routine handling, restraint, identification (including ear notching, tagging, tattooing, and toe clipping) and sexing of common laboratory animals.
• Distinguish various common laboratory animal strains in accordance with standardized genetic nomenclature and phenotype identification.
• Maintain and report accurate records, including but not limited to breeding records, health monitoring reports, receipt of sentinel animals and animal disposition logs.
• Monitor animal colonies for injured, sick, moribund, or dead animals and record/report findings.
• Maintain animal health records for on-going treatments in the HMR/IACUC database.
• Monitor "Emergency Separation Notices," separating overcrowded cages as necessary, transcribing correct animal information onto cage cards/ECCs after separations, and entering information accurately into Technical Services database.
• Participate with other Technologists in collection of sentinel animals, including accurate sentinel animal identification (room/rack #) for scheduled shipment to Charles River Laboratories for pathogen testing.
• Blood collection and serum preparation for sentinel animals in ABSL-2/3 suite.
• Maintain and report accurate records, including but not limited to: technical service records, electronic cage cards, animal census, sterilization logs, breeding records, transgenic data, anesthesia machine logs, animal receiving and disposition logs, etc.
• Perform sample collection for quarterly environmental testing of the animal facility, including equipment, surfaces, and RO water.
• Assist as directed by the TS Manager/Supervisor with Intramural Transfers and Animal Exports/Imports.
• Assist with animal quarantine imports; sexing, sample collection, treating and creating Charles River testing accessions.

Qualifications

• Minimum Education: High School Diploma or GED required. BA/BS preferred.
• 3 years working in an AAALAC-accredited laboratory animal facility.
• 1 year of work experience in small animal studies in academia or industry preferred.
• AALAS certification at the Laboratory Animal Technician (LAT) preferred.

Skills and abilities

• Knowledge in animal studies including IP, IV, SQ injections, oral gavage, blood collection, and minor surgical procedures preferred.
• Willingness to learn Bioluminescence Imaging (BLI) techniques.
• Ability to safely handle, restrain, perform treatments, and euthanize laboratory mice as directed.
• Understanding of mouse breeding colony maintenance required for establishing breeding colony pairs, sexing animals, weaning pups, and entering colony data on Electronic Cage Cards (ECC) and in computer database.
• Organized and meticulous in record keeping.
• Ability to communicate and collaborate with members of a multidisciplinary team.
• Previous experience working with infectious agents (ABSL-2/3 level) would be helpful but not required. In-house training will be provided prior to working in ABSL-2/3 areas.
• Requires a working knowledge of basic computer skills, including word processing, spreadsheets, and other related software.

Pay

$64,600.00 - $82,800.00