Laboratory Assistant II - Psychiatry - 140497

UCSD Department of Psychiatry is one of the most innovative and productive academic departments in the country, offering challenging career opportunities in the diverse areas of advanced educational programs, cutting-edge research, and state-of-the-art clinical services. The department is committed to offering a dynamic learning environment and growing opportunities to its talented and dedicated employees.

Under supervision, the incumbent will be working as a Laboratory Assistant II assisting in performing experiments involving animal models of key psychiatric and neurological symptom dimensions aimed at developing new biomarkers and treatment targets. The incumbent will also assist in performing surgeries aimed at enabling neural recording and manipulation including intracranial injections and fiber implants; will assist and perform mice and rat behavioral assays, will assist and perform mice and rats euthanasia, ear tag and tail number, keep journals and publication files up to date, and assist in maintaining lab cleanliness. Assist with processing tissue for image analysis to support investigation of changes in neuronal connectivity and confirmation of injection/implant (e.g. transcranial perfusions, sectioning, IHC, mounting slides). Assist with imaging slices and caring for mouse colony through animal husbandry to support all laboratory research. Assist with other project and miscellaneous duties as required.

• Graduation from high school or a General Education Diploma and one year of laboratory experience or two years of college including courses in the natural, physical or social sciences; or an equivalent combination of education and experience; and knowledge and abilities essential to the successful performance of the duties assigned to the position.

• Demonstrated experience handling mice.

• Must be able to maintain confidentiality.

• Demonstrated organizational and record-keeping skills.

• Demonstrated experience with filing, alphabetizing and clerical tasks.

• General laboratory experience.

• Demonstrated ability to run updates and install a variety of different software platforms with minimal supervision (Systat, Sigmaplot, SPSS, End Note, BMDP, Adobe, Mozilla, etc.).

• Proficiency in MS Office.

• Proven ability to work under own initiative as well as to work meticulously under close direction.

• Ability to resolve computer equipment malfunctions.

• Good communication skills.

• Proven ability to maintain lab equipment by performing the following tasks: set-up, operation, test, calibrate, and clean used equipment, including microscopes, micro centrifuges, and behavioral equipment.

• Experience in assisting with caring for Mouse colonies through animal husbandry to support all laboratory research.

• Familiarity with neural data analysis.

• Familiarity with testing mouse studies using behavioral assays.

• Proven ability to assist with immunohistochemistry.

• Knowledge and ability to set up and carry out machine learning based analysis of behavioral data and/or proficiency with MATLAB/Python.

• Knowledge and ability to manage lab computational infrastructure to support data acquisition and analysis.

• Knowledge and experience with rodent models of disease.

• Employment is subject to a criminal background check.

• Must be willing to handle and euthanize rats and mice.

• Must be willing to work flexible hours, nights, and/or weekends if necessary for experimental purposes.