• Job Type: Support Staff - Union
• Bargaining Unit: SSA
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• End Date if Temporary: n/a
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Salary Range: $1,029.18 per week

Position Summary

The Senior Technician will work closely with Principal Investigator to promote an efficient laboratory environment, conduct experiments, work closely with other lab members and in collaboration with labs in the Columbia University Medical Center community. Competitive candidates will be those who are eager to learn, flexible, highly organized, and possess excellent communication and record-keeping abilities. The senior technician will be responsible for conducting experiments to advance the research progress in the lab.

Responsibilities

• Help to set up, adjust, calibrate, maintain and troubleshoot equipment.
• Process tissue samples from preclinical animal models and patients, including cryopreservation, cell fractionation using FACS or MACS, and extraction of nucleic acids and/or proteins.
• Prepare and maintain basic dry and wet chemicals and other common laboratory reagents.
• Perform extraction of nucleic acids and proteins from biologic specimens.
• Perform conventional PCR and quantitative RT-PCR, immunoblotting and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS)
• Responsible for maintenance of cell lines in tissue culture.
• Perform in vitro therapeutic studies in cell lines and primary samples, including in vitro proliferation and luminescence assays.
• Keep detailed records of laboratory work and communicate results over shared electronic communications platforms.
• Assist with operation and maintenance of common laboratory equipment.
• Order equipment for the laboratory based on discussions with the PI
• Order reagents for the laboratory based on recognized need and requests from other lab members.
• Teach members of the laboratory to perform basic molecular biology tasks.
• Ensure compliance with Environmental Health and Safety information as well as the standard operating procedures specific to each laboratory.
• Attend regular meetings with the PI and the grants management office to review laboratory operations.
• Perform additional related duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and at least one and one-half years of related experience or equivalent in education, training and experience
• Excellent communication skills including timely responses to messages during business hours

Minimum Qualifications

• Experience in microscopy, genomics and computational analyses are strongly preferred though not essential if the candidate is willing to learn

Other Requirements

• The candidate selected for this position is required to undergo a drug screening test prior to a final offer of employment being made
• Participation in the medical surveillance program
• Ability to work with laboratory animals
• Potential bloodborne pathogen exposure

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.

About Columbia University

Columbia University is one of the world's most important centers of research and at the same time a distinctive and distinguished learning environment for undergraduates and graduate students in many scholarly and professional fields. The University recognizes the importance of its location in New York City and seeks to link its research and teaching to the vast resources of a great metropolis. It seeks to attract a diverse and international faculty and student body, to support research and teaching on global issues, and to create academic relationships with many countries and regions. It expects all areas of the university to advance knowledge and learning at the highest level and to convey the products of its efforts to the world.

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