Senior Researcher (PREP)

General Description

PREP Research Associate

This position is part of the National Institute of Standards (NIST) Professional Research Experience (PREP) program. NIST recognizes that its research staff may wish to collaborate with researchers at academic institutions on specific projects of mutual interest, thus requires that such institutions must be the recipient of a PREP award. The PREP program requires staff from a wide range of backgrounds to work on scientific research in many areas. Employees in this position will perform technical work that underpins the scientific research of the collaboration.

Research Title:

Development of Control Materials for the Testing of Cell Viability Assays

The work will entail: 

Cell viability is a critical measurement in the testing and manufacturing of regenerative medicine products and cell-based therapies.  New cell viability methods are being developed that can better support continuous monitoring of cells during manufacturing and release testing of cells to assure proper dosing of therapies.  Reproducibly developed control materials are needed to evaluate new assays and support assay validation.  In this project the student will support the development and testing of cell-based control materials by culturing cells, treating cells to induce controlled cell damage and death, and evaluating cell health and viability to establish cellular test materials with well characterized health profiles.  The methods developed in this project will support the testing of novel cell viability measurement techniques and will support the development of documentary standards for cell viability. 

Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Culturing mammalian cells under varying conditions to elicit a range of cell responses
• Preparing dilution series and spike-in series test samples
• Executing cell analysis using advanced analytical instrumentation (e.g. microscopy, cell counters, cytometry analyzers)
• Analyzing and integrating data from different analytical techniques.

§ Presenting results at internal meetings and occasional meetings with collaborators.

§ Ensuring that results, protocols, software, and documentation have been archived or otherwise transmitted to the larger project.

Qualifications

§  Completed undergraduate level lab and course work in biochemistry, biology, biotechnology or other relevant topic

§  1 year of relevant experience in biotechnology lab work.

§  Familiarity with cell culture and cell counting

§  Familiarity with biological sample handling including pipetting and aseptic technique

§  Familiarity with data handling in excel or R.

§  Programing skills in Python, MATLAB, R or other computing language is desirable

§  Strong oral and written communication skills.

Application Instructions

Please incldue the following below:

CV

2 professional references 

Privacy Act Statement

Authority: 15 U.S.C. § 278g-1(e)(1) and (e)(3) and 15 U.S.C. § 272(b) and (c)

Purpose: The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) hosts the   Professional Research Experience Program (PREP)  which is designed to provide valuable laboratory experience and financial assistance to undergraduates, post-bachelor's degree holders, graduate students, master's degree holders, postdocs, and faculty.  

PREP is a 5-year cooperative agreement between NIST laboratories and participating PREP Universities to establish a collaborative research relationship between NIST and U.S. institutions of higher education in the following disciplines including (but may not be limited to) biochemistry, biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, engineering, electronics, materials science, mathematics, nanoscale science, neutron science, physical science, physics, and statistics. This collection of information is needed to facilitate administrative functions of the PREP Program.

Routine Uses: NIST will use the information collected to perform the requisite reviews of the applications to determine eligibility, and to meet programmatic requirements. Disclosure of this information is also subject to all the published routine uses as identified in the Privacy Act System of Records Notices:  NIST-1: NIST Associates. 

Disclosure: Furnishing this information is voluntary. When you submit the form, you are indicating your voluntary consent for NIST to use of the information you submit for the purpose stated.

About Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University remains committed to its founding principle, that education for all students should be grounded in exploration and discovery. Hopkins students are challenged not just to learn but also to advance learning itself. Critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and entrepreneurship are all encouraged and nourished in this unique educational environment. After more than 130 years, Johns Hopkins remains a world leader in both teaching and research. Faculty members and their research colleagues at the university's Applied Physics Laboratory have each year since 1979 won Johns Hopkins more federal research and development funding than any other university. The university has nine academic divisions and campuses throughout the Baltimore-Washington area. The Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, the Whiting School of Engineering, the School of Education and the Carey Business School are based at the Homewood campus in northern Baltimore. The schools of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing share a campus in east Baltimore with The Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Peabody Institute, a leading professional school of music, is located on Mount Vernon Place in downtown Bal ... timore. The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies is located in Washington's Dupont Circle area.

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