General nature or purpose of the job:
A position of research laboratory technician is available in the laboratories of Dr. Rejji Kuruvilla, Dr. Haiqing Zhao, and Dr. Jocelyne DiRuggierro in the Department of Biology at Johns Hopkins University. The technician will assist three PIs to manage and maintain their laboratories for an active research environment.
The primary duties and responsibilities of the job:
Primary duties and responsibilities include managing and maintaining research supplies and lab environment, upholding biosafety regulations, making and receiving purchase orders and organizing and archiving receipts, etc., for three labs consisting of a total of about 15 people. Primary duties and responsibilities for animal maintenance include mouse genotyping, organizing mouse colony records, and importing/exporting mouse colonies.
Lab maintenance and management:
• Stock and maintain lab chemicals
• Maintain common lab supplies, purchase, and make and receive purchase records
• Perform basic accounting tasks (weekly) includes collecting receipts, allocating funds on the PIs’ weekly statements, and working with the finance office to solve any accounting issues relating to lab expenses.
• Archive lab documents
• Dispose laboratory, and specifically, chemical waste
• Follow and enforce all laboratory safety protocols
• Prepare the labs (Kuruvilla, DiRuggiero and Zhao labs) for lab safety inspections, the annual safety inspection, and semi-annual Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) inspection.
• Update and maintain the animal care and use protocols.
• Update and maintain all annual biosafety updates and registrations for the Kuruvilla, DiRuggiero, and Zhao labs
• Coordinate maintenance of laboratory equipment
• General laboratory upkeep
Animal maintenance and management:
• Manage and maintain wild-type and mutant mouse colonies including bookkeeping mouse database, weaning, ear tagging, tail sample collection.
• Perform PCR genotyping and breeding of mice to maintain mouse colonies for laboratory experiments.
• Complete daily animal checks (check food/water levels and the mouse health).
Other responsibilities include:
• Train users on equipment, lab procedures and techniques.
• Perform other duties as needed.
Minimum qualifications (mandatory):
- Bachelor's degree in biology, chemistry or related field.
Preferred qualifications:
- Some related post-undergraduate work experience preferred.
- Previous lab experience is helpful, but not required.
Special knowledge, skills, and abilities:
- A willingness to work with mice is necessary and a basic understanding of molecular biology principles is recommended.
- Excellent organization skills are essential.
- Ability to exercise professional judgment and good written and oral communication skills are desired.
- A basic understanding of molecular biology principles is recommended.
- Ability to maintain and train users on lab equipment including weigh balances, pH meters, spectrophotometers, centrifuges, ultracentrifuges, PCR machines, tissue culture equipment, microscopes, computers (Mac and PC).
For more information, contact Dr. Rejji Kuruvilla at rkuruvilla@jhu.edu or 410-516-2366.