Research Specialist – AZ – Core Facility

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Research Specialist
– AZ
– Core Facility

The Research Specialist will help establish, maintain and provide daily technical support to the new Core Facility at Midwestern University.

The Core Facility will house shared equipment for our campus researchers.

The position will require the person to work under the supervision of at least one faculty member (a core facility supervisor) to accomplish assigned tasks.

Incumbent will primarily work with equipment in three specialty areas that are the strengths of the core facility: Histology, Advanced Imaging, and Molecular/Analytical Biology.

The Research Specialist will oversee all standard maintenance of the laboratory and mentor and train research students, research staff, and faculty on the various pieces of shared equipment.

Keeping the facility organized and safe is critical.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Establishes and manages a safe, operational laboratory that is designed to serve the entire Midwestern University research community.

Communicates regularly with the supervising faculty member regarding all laboratory operations and needs.

Obtains quotes, performs ordering of lab supplies and equipment, and keeps the laboratory appropriately stocked at all times.

Performs daily maintenance of each piece of laboratory equipment.

Must become an expert user of equipment-specific software.

Assist and lead group, and one-on-one student training of core facility equipment, and subsequently oversees students using the equipment.

Train research staff and faculty how to use core facility equipment, and subsequently oversees their use of the equipment.

Provides scientific and technical advice and guidance to students, staff, and faculty, when appropriate.

Assists the core facility faculty supervisor in hosting campus-wide, regularly scheduled educational seminars on how to safely and effectively use the equipment.

Maintains chemical inventory and MSDS info for all lab reagents.

Develops written protocols for using each piece of core facility equipment.

Reads and performs regular literature research in order to stay current on laboratory protocols.

May be asked to travel to sites of collaboration and/or training, or to scientific meetings.

May be asked to assist faculty/course directors in training during laboratory-based courses.

Performs additional duties as required.

Must have schedule flexibility and be willing to occasionally work late hours, weekends and potentially overtime in order to handle emergency equipment malfunctions or immediate safety concerns.

Preferred Skills

Strong experience and expertise in at least one of these areas is greatly preferred:
Experience using histology equipment: tissue processors, tissue embedders, microtomes, vibratomes, cyrostats, laser capture microdissection Experience using microscopy/imaging equipment: brightfield microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, confocal microscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, microCT, and image analysis Experience using molecular/analytical biology equipment: LC/MS mass spectrometry (triple quadrupole), plate readers, real-time PCR, luminometers, flow cytometry
Supervisory Responsibilities

This job has no supervisory responsibilities of salaried employees.

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.

The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Education and/or Experience

Bachelor’s degree in biological or chemical sciences and a minimum of 3-5 years of relevant laboratory experience is required or a research thesis-based Master’s degree in a biological or chemical sciences related field with 2 years of full time experience as a research staff member.

Experience in histology, microscopy, molecular biology and/or mass spectrometry is preferred.

Advanced degrees (e.g.

master of science) are also preferred, but not necessary.

Computer Skills

Computer proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook) is required.

Familiarity with Image J, GraphPad Prism, SPSS is preferred.

Language Skills

Intermediate skills: Ability to write, read, and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions and procedure manuals.

Ability to write routine reports and correspondence.

Ability to communicate effectively with students, staff and faculty.

Reasoning Ability

Intermediate skills: Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written, oral or diagram form.

Ability to deal with problems involving several concrete variables in standardized situations.

Mathematical Ability

Basic skills: add, subtract, multiply, and divide all units of measure using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals.

Ability to compute rate, ratio, and percent and to interpret bar graphs.

Ability to apply concepts of basic algebra, geometry and statistics.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to sit.

The employee is regularly required to walk, climb or balance, stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl, taste and smell.

The employee is frequently required to stand, use hands to handle or feel, reach with hands and arms, talk and hear.

The employee must regularly lift and /or move up to 25 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds.

Specific vision abilities required by this job include vision correctable to 20/40 in one eye, color vision and depth vision, especially for using microscopes.

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform certain essential functions.

This individual will occasionally be exposed to toxic or caustic chemicals.

The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. 

Midwestern University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer that does not discriminate against an employee or applicant based upon race, color, religion, gender, national origin, disability, or veterans status, in accord with 41 C.F.R.

60-1.4(a), 250.5(a), 300.5(a) and 741.5(a).

Midwestern University complies with the Smoke-Free Arizona Act (A.R.S.

36-601.01) and the Smoke Free Illinois Act (410 ILCS 82/).

Midwestern University complies with the Illinois Equal Pay Act of 2003 and Arizona Equal Pay Acts.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant.

However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.

41 CFR 60-1.35(c)