Senior Research Associate - 138107

The pathology of neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases is not completely understood. Novel therapies require precise biomarkers and identifying indicators of disease progression and therapeutic efficacy. Collecting deeply phenotyped biosamples and sharing them with the scientific community is crucial to advance towards the cure for these devastating disorders.

The work is focused on supporting biomarker discovery and development work and assisting with the biorepository management, in addition to perform biochemical and behavioral studies on animal model of neurodegeneration.

The Senior Research Associate will manage and coordinate research efforts with other collaborators both within and outside the laboratory. They will independently conceive, plan, and conduct research projects based on reviews of scientific literature and recent advances in related fields, organizing and executing all techniques involved. They will contribute novel ideas of major methodological significance to the research projects, design key experiments, and develop new techniques. They will author or co-author scientific journal manuscripts and contribute to grant writing. They will direct and advise the work of technicians and students, and will also contribute to functions necessary for the regular functioning of the lab, including administrative and maintenance tasks, ensure compliance with safety and regulatory norms, and aid in managing the biorepository, selecting, collecting and shipping samples to requestors.

• Advanced theoretical knowledge of neurodegenerative diseases, epigenomics, regulation of gene transcription, circadian biology, biochemistry, and molecular biology as typically achieved by an advanced college degree and work experience.

• Proven record of successful administration of large biosample collections.

• Proficiency managing large sample inventories.

• Proven experience training and managing undergraduate students.

• Expertise conducting molecular biology assays.

• Strong demonstrated experience in live- and fixed-cell imaging using confocal microscopy.

• Strong demonstrated experience in surgery on small animals like rodents.

• Proven experience and advanced skills in data analysis, including designing, coordinating, executing, and analyzing data from large sequencing projects and array analysis. Knowledge of the most commonly used bioinformatic tools and capacity to defined new pipelines and apply packages for analysis in R.

• Advanced skill in experimental design and adaptation of methods to achieve results. Demonstrated experience in integrating data from multiple sources to synthesize conclusions. Knowledge and ability to read and abstract scientific articles and apply to the design of experiments.

• Experience in providing technical work direction and training of students, post-docs, and technicians.

• Proven experience and knowledge in developing hypotheses, design experiments, conduct experiments, analyze data, write manuscripts, and publish results in peer-reviewed journals, including all interactions with Reviewers and Editors.

• Demonstrated experience in working with collaborators in other universities on joint projects, and working under milestones driven projects, including knowledge in writing reports.

• Strong organizational skills, including experience in laboratory record keeping, budget analysis and managing logistics. Demonstrated knowledge of lab safety rules.

• Proven experience in contributing and implementing lab safety and compiling with institutional regulations.

• Proven ability to read scientific papers and adapt knowledge and techniques from the literature to experimental systems.

• Excellent written, verbal and interpersonal communication skills including tack, diplomacy, and flexibility in order to work and interact effectively with staff, researchers, and management in person, on the phone or via Zoom or other video conferencing platforms.

• Knowledge of PC software applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Keynote, Illustrator to produce reports, correspondence, graphs, and spreadsheets to generate, track, and analyze data.

• Experience in managing the hiring and day-to-day work-flow of volunteers, undergraduate students and research technicians.

• Prior experience performing research in a lab that studies molecular alterations in neurodegenerative diseases, including transcriptional and cell biology analysis

• Experience in performing behavior phenotyping in animal models of neurodegeneration.

• Ability to independently analyze data from circadian cage activity and behavior and memory tasks.

• A PhD in a field related to cell biology, biochemistry or neuroscience.

• Experience with UCSD regulations, policies, and procedures.

• Experience with UCSD lab safety protocols

• Strong demonstrated experience in AAV preparation and experience in culturing, editing and differentiating human iPS cells.

• Demonstrated experience in the official review of manuscripts for publication in peer-review journals.

• Employment is subject to a criminal background check.

• Must be willing to work with hazardous materials.

If employed by the University of California, you will be required to comply with our Policy on Vaccination Programs, which may be amended or revised from time to time. Federal, state, or local public health directives may impose additional requirements.

If applicable, life-support certifications (BLS, NRP, ACLS, etc.) must include hands-on practice and in-person skills assessment; online-only certification is not acceptable.

UC San Diego Health Sciences is comprised of our School of Medicine, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, The Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, and our Student Health and Well-Being Department. We have long been at the forefront of translational - or "bench-to-bedside" - research, transforming patient care through discovery and innovation leading to new drugs and technologies. Translational research is carried out every day in the hundreds of clinical trials of promising new therapies offered through UC San Diego Health, and in the drive of our researchers and clinician-scientists who are committed to having a significant impact on patient care. We invite you to join our team!

Applications/Resumes are accepted for current job openings only. For full consideration on any job, applications must be received prior to the initial closing date. If a job has an extended deadline, applications/resumes will be considered during the extension period; however, a job may be filled before the extended date is reached.

To foster the best possible working and learning environment, UC San Diego strives to cultivate a rich and diverse environment, inclusive and supportive of all students, faculty, staff and visitors. For more information, please visit UC San Diego Principles of Community.

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected status under state or federal law.

For the University of California's Anti-Discrimination Policy, please visit: https://policy.ucop.edu/doc/1001004/Anti-Discrimination

UC San Diego is a smoke and tobacco free environment. Please visit smokefree.ucsd.edu for more information.

UC San Diego Health maintains a marijuana and drug free environment. Employees may be subject to drug screening.

Misconduct Disclosure Requirement: As a condition of employment, the final candidate who accepts an offer of employment will be required to disclose if they have been subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct; or have filed an appeal of a finding of substantiated misconduct with a previous employer.

a. "Misconduct" means any violation of the policies governing employee conduct at the applicant's previous place of employment, including, but not limited to, violations of policies prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other forms of harassment, or discrimination, as defined by the employer. For reference, below are UC's policies addressing some forms of misconduct:

• UC Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy
• UC Anti-Discrimination Policy
• Abusive Conduct in the Workplace