Responsibilities/Duties:
The successful candidate will be joining a collaborative research team studying basic iron biology in the developing brain. Located in the Department of Pediatrics, this position provides technical support for Dr. Thomas Bastian and Dr. Michael Georgieff's research groups in the Division of Neonatology. This position is located at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities on the East Bank but will involve work in a collaborator's laboratory on the St. Paul campus.

60%  - Provide support for mouse colony maintenance. Work with lab members to maintain optimal colony size and health for colony maintenance and animal experiments. This will involve genotyping, tailing/tagging, weaning, euthanasia, breeding, timed pregnancies, extensive record keeping, working with RAR staff and ordering mice.

20%- Lab Research. Live fluorescent imaging of neuronal cultures. Immunocytochemistry and fluorescent microscopy of individual neurons in fixed cultures or tissue sections for dendrite structure, synapses, and mitochondrial localization. Image analysis using FIJI/Imagej to assess dendrite morphology, mitochondrial density, and synapse density. In addition this person will be responsible for initiating and managing mouse experiments using nutritional/pharmacological interventions. This position will require detailed time management and record keeping skills.

20%  - General laboratory support. This position is responsible for preparing common reagents, updating inventories of supplies and helping to keep equipment in working order including cleaning lab and autoclaving/sterilizing reagents and equipment.

All required qualifications must be documented on application materials

Required Qualifications:
• BA/BS or a combination of related education and work experience to equal four years

Preferred Qualifications:
• Excellent understanding of experimental design and scientific method including proper controls
• Detailed laboratory record keeping and organizational skills
• Ability to help design research studies and independently plan and perform complex experiments and data analyses
• Has experience with laboratory animal handling, preferably rats or mice
• Demonstrated genetic understanding of Cre/Lox and tetracycline-controlled transcriptional activation transgenic mouse models
• Experience with multiple molecular biology and biochemical techniques (e.g., mouse tagging/tailing, genomic DNA preparation, transgenic mouse genotyping, immunocytochemistry, western blotting)
• Rodent tissue dissection experience
• Experience with writing protocols for regulatory committee approval (e.g., IACUC, IBC)
• Cell culture experience (preference to those with primary neuron culture experience)