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The Zhen Laboratory at UCLA is dedicated to advancing immune engineering approaches to treat HIV, cancer, and other chronic diseases. The lab specializes in hematopoietic stem cell and T-cell based gene and cell therapies—including CAR-T and CAR-NK—while exploring mechanisms of immune exhaustion and the intersection of virology, immunology, and regenerative medicine. We are seeking a motivated and skilled Staff Research Associate to join our team and contribute to the development of our cell therapy programs. The successful candidate will play a key role in executing and optimizing experiments related to immune cell engineering and animal studies, as well as generating and interpreting data. Key Responsibilities may include: carrying out cell culture, including cell lines and primary cell culture; perform molecular cloning; produce and characterize lentiviruses; AAV and use of other gene engineering platforms.
Salary Range: $27.85 – $33.21 Hourly
Required:
- Bachelor’s degree or higher in biology or related field and/or equivalent experience and/or training
- Working knowledge and experience with basic biology.
- Skill in using BSL2 laboratory practices and sterile techniques.
- Skill in preparing media and reagents used in tissue culture work.
- Skill in handling human cells and cell lines (adherent and suspension). Skill in counting cells, freezing/thawing cells, storing cells, passaging cell lines, maintaining primary cells.
- Skill in performing vector transfection, transduction, and titration.
- Skill in flow cytometry staining of samples (cells, blood, tissue).
- Ability to learn flow cytometry acquisition and analysis; ability to learn MACSQuant and Fortessa flow cytometer use.
- Skill in performing DNA/RNA extractions, viral RNA, PCR, RT-PCR.
- Skill in molecular cloning: restriction enzyme digestion, bacterial cultures, plasmid preparation. Skill in gel electrophoresis.
- Skill in database management, utilizing inventory software.
- Willing to work long hours (planned or unplanned), overtime, or alternate hours (such as weekends, offset hours and late at night) as requested.
- Skill in performing a given protocol in a reproducible way. Skill in reading laboratory protocols and other scientific documents. Skill in troubleshooting and optimizing protocols as necessary, documenting any protocol deviations with thorough explanation of why deviation occurred.
- Ability to work independently to finish tasks in a timely manner. Ability to adjust to changes in the workload and switch focus as needed. Very organized with meticulous attention to detail. Skill in detailed documentation of activities, tasks, progress, observations, etc.
- Skill in using Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Google Docs, Dropbox, Box, Mac computers, iPad. Familiarity with FlowJo.
- Skill in maintaining accurate and detailed records of experiments and paperwork.
- Skill in creating and maintaining computerized records of experiments and data; skill in identifying anomalies in data or results, and proactively notifying supervisor in a timely manner.
- Skill in performing mathematical calculations.
- Skill in using common laboratory equipment including: micropipettes, pipets, microscopes, centrifuges, ultracentrifuges, CO2 incubators, waterbaths, electrophoresis equipment, thermal cyclers, flow cytometers, autoclave.
Preferred:
- Ability to work with HIV in a biosafety cabinet. Ability to grow virus stocks.
- Skill in safely handling mice, including HIV infected mice.
- Skill in performing animal manipulations– various injections, retroorbital bleeding, euthanizations, tissue harvesting.
- Skill in processing mouse tissues (blood, spleen, thymus, lung, liver, brain, bone marrow, and more) in a biosafety cabinet.
- Ability to process primate blood.
- Ability to process human liver and thymus. Ability to perform HLA-subtyping; analyze results based on a standard kit.
- Skill in isolating cell sub-populations from human and mouse blood/tissue.
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