Research Assistant

We are currently seeking a self-motivated and highly organized Research Assistant to support the lab of Dr. Price E. Dickson at the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University in Huntington, WV.

About the role

The Dickson Laboratory investigates the genetic drivers of drug addiction using the following approaches:

• Behavioral neuroscience
• Behavioral genetics
• Systems genetics
• Recombinant inbred mouse panels
• Operant conditioning
• Intravenous drug self-administration
• Machine learning approaches for analysis of mouse behavior
• Omics approaches including bulk, single-cell, and spatial RNA-seq
• Bioinformatics analysis of omics data
• Calcium imaging techniques including fiber photometry and miniaturized microscopes

Responsibilities

• Behavioral testing of mice
• Learning and implementing surgical techniques in the laboratory mouse including intravenous jugular catheterization and stereotaxic surgery
• Maintaining a colony of experimental mice (~200 cages)
• Tissue harvesting and preparation of tissue samples for sequencing
• Wet lab techniques
• Cryostat techniques
• Coordinating these tasks with a team of technicians, doctoral students, and research scientists

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in neuroscience, psychology, biology, or a related field

Qualifications

Preferred qualifications:

• A master’s degree would be beneficial but is not required
• Research experience using mice or rats
• Previous experience with one or more of the techniques used in Dr. Dickson’s laboratory
• Building and troubleshooting computer workstations in both Windows and Linux environments
• LLM-facilitated computer programming in Python or R
• Computer aided design and manufacturing in aluminum and plastic using the following tools: Fusion 360, CNC router, lathe, 3D printer

Location: Marshall University School of Medicine, Huntington, WV.