Research Associate Ii - Center For Human Brain Variation

Job Description

The Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard is looking for an outstanding Research Associate II to join the experimentalist team in the Center for Human Brain Variation. The mission of the center is to address an unmet need in cell census research: to understand the cell-type-specific mechanisms and larger tissue-level biological principles that generate meaningful variation in brain biology among people.

We are seeking a highly motivated, collaborative Research Associate to support this important effort in close collaboration with other project scientists. The Research Associate should be able to conduct bench experiments with minimal supervision and will have opportunities to present at lab meetings and contribute to writing experimental protocols.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Contribute to experimental workflows for profiling the molecular contents and biological states of thousands of individual cells in brain tissue, contributing to all aspects including planning experiments; creating DNA-barcoding reagents; extracting nuclei from Human Brain tissue; preparing molecular libraries; and high-throughput sequencing.
• Optimize and execute molecular-biological reactions such as PCR, DNA extractions from Human Brain tissue, and next-generation sequencing (NGS) library preparation.
• Maintain meticulous records and document all experiments in the lab notebook.
• Attend and contribute to team meetings.
• Contribute to the generation and optimization of experimental protocols.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in biology, neuroscience, chemistry, or a related field with 2+ years of related experience, or Master's degree with at least 1 year of related experience
• Experience generating single-cell RNAseq, ATACseq, and multiome data preferred but not required.

• Ability to critically read and discuss scientific research publications.

• Strong ability to work both independently and collaboratively.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced rapidly changing environment.

• Must be comfortable and able to work onsite five days per week.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.