Full-Time Professional Research Assistant (PRA)

The Leinwand Lab is seeking a full-time PRA to take on the responsibilities described below.  The start date of this position is July 1st, 2021. 

Snake Work - The PRA will handle the maintenance of the Burmese Python and Ball Python colonies for the Leinwand Lab. The PRA will independently deal with all of the day-to-day needs of up to 32 pythons, including transportation, feeding, cleaning/sanitizing cages and water bowls, and health checks. The PRA will also order, sacrifice and keep track of all the mice and rats we keep for the snakes. Although the veterinary staff is present on certain occasions, the PRA will perform all mite removal and preventative care treatments. The PRA will also independently perform any feeding experiments we do on the snakes, which requires an increased workload of up to 40 hours a week depending on the frequency and length of feeding and the number of animals we have.

Dissection Work - The PRA will assist with all snake dissections that we do in the Leinwand Lab, including anesthetizing and euthanizing the animals, collecting blood/serum, and collecting, recording, embedding and storing different organs and tissues.

Lab Work - The PRA will independently perform many different types of procedures involving molecular biology, including DNA/RNA isolation, Topo cloning, quantitative PCR and gene expression analysis, protein isolation, gel electrophoresis, Western Blot analysis and myofibril isolation. The PRA will also help with training incoming lab members and students about these techniques. The PRA will be a primary resource for incoming graduate/undergraduate students, PRAs and postdocs for any procedures related to RNA isolation, cDNA synthesis and quantitative PCR analysis. The PRA will perform data analysis and generate statistics for all of his/her data as well as for students and other lab members. The PRA will be a primary resource for Burmese Python qPCR Primer Design, which is a technical process because the python genome is not fully annotated.  The PRA will also design primers for other lab members working on the python.