Research Technician II, Microbiology and Immunology

About the role

The Research Technician II position is immediately available in the labs of Dr. Yolanda Huang and Dr. Ryan Hunter in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology. About the Huang Lab: Research in the Huang lab focuses on uncovering novel pathways important for fitness in gut anaerobes and bacteria-phage interactions using interdisciplinary approaches. The overall goal is to advance our understanding of the gut microbiota at the molecular level by identifying mechanisms that we can leverage to modulate microbiota composition and function. We leverage cutting-edge techniques, including LC-MS/MS, genetics, DNA barcoding, next-gen sequencing, and functional genomics. About the Hunter Lab: Research in the Hunter lab focuses on how the airway microenvironment shapes bacterial physiology during chronic infection. We are using LC-MS-based approaches to define how bacterial metabolomes and cell envelope composition respond to host-associated conditions and microbial interactions. This work integrates microbial genetics, anaerobe cultivation, and multi-omic analyses to uncover mechanisms that drive persistence and pathogenic behavior in chronic airway disease.

Responsibilities

• Maintain, run, and develop methods for the LC-MS instrument qTOF, and support lab functions and research needs.
• Participate in the design and execution of experiments and/or computational analyses and contribute to publications.
• Contribute to bacterial genetics, molecular cloning, bacteria and phage cultivations (aerobic and anaerobic), protein, lipid, and cell wall purifications, bioinformatics, and various -omic techniques.

Requirements

• An Associate’s degree or two years formal training in Microbiology, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, or a related field
• Three years experience directly related to the project
• A bachelor of science degree in Microbiology, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, or a related field
• Experience in bacteria or phage cultivation, molecular biology, analytical chemistry
• Experience in experimental work
• Self-motivation, ability to work independently and collaborate within a team, time-management and organizational skills, strong communication skills

Qualifications

• Research experience in microbiology, biochemistry, bioengineering, or a related field
• Hands-on experience using a high-resolution LC-MS instrument
• Experience in any of the following areas would be an asset: bacteria and/or phage isolation and cultivation, microbial genetics, molecular biology, protein biochemistry, assay development, analytical chemistry (HPLC), sequencing, and bioinformatics

Skills

The ideal candidate will have research experience in microbiology, biochemistry, bioengineering, or a related field, as well as hands-on experience using a high-resolution LC-MS instrument. Experience in any of the following areas would be an asset: bacteria and/or phage isolation and cultivation, microbial genetics, molecular biology, protein biochemistry, assay development, analytical chemistry (HPLC), sequencing, and bioinformatics.

Benefits

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Pay

$40,000 - $55,000

Schedule

40 hours per week