Research Associate

Responsibilities

• Perform hands-on microbial culturing and characterization experiments with a focus on diverse fungi.
• Develop protocols and reagents for culturing fungal species in diverse growth modalities (plates, flasks, solid media) with and without automation. 
• Procure, prepare, sterilize and maintain growth media, reagents, and other materials.
• Set up, operate, and maintain microbial laboratory instrumentation (incubators, shakers, plate readers).
• Handling and storing fungal and bacterial sample collections with comprehensive labeling and tracking.
• Maintain high standards of reproducible and rigorous science, with meticulous documentation.
• Report and analyze data daily in a highly organized manner.
• Present data to the team. 
• Write protocols and SOPs for manual and automated experiments.
• Communicate with direct supervisor regularly.
• Any additional tasks assigned by the team lead.
• Demonstrate a commitment to diversity, inclusion, and cultural awareness through actions, interactions, and communications with others.

Basic Qualifications

• Passion for breaking barriers in microbiology.
• Authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship.BS/MS in biology, microbiology, molecular biology, environmental biology or related fields is required.
• 2+ years of hands-on research experience in academia or industry with a focus on fungal microbiology is required.
• Demonstrated proficiency in microbiology and sterile techniques (preparation of media, glycerol stocks and reagent stocks, sterilization, cell culture, serial dilutions, plating, CFU quantification, streaking, growth curves).
• Experience with diverse culture methods for fungi.
• Familiarity with analysis and troubleshooting of fungal growth. 
• Comfortable with using and learning lab automation tools. 
• Ability to ensure quality experimental design (replicates, positive and negative controls) and follow protocols.
• Creative thinking and problem-solving skills. 
• Meticulous record-keeping and highly organized with attention to detail. 
• Ability to set priorities and meet deadlines.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and in a team environment.
• Strong quantitative and analytical skills, a proclivity for reasoning from first principles.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment, ability to adapt to changing projects and goals.
• Proficiency in staying up to date with new technologies/literature related to the field.
• Effective communicator.

Advanced Qualifications

• Experience with liquid or solid-state fermentation at any scale.
• Experience with applying molecular techniques to fungal species.
• Experience with anaerobic cultivation.
• Experience with high-throughput laboratory automation.
• Proficiency with design of experiments (D.O.E) for process optimization.