Employment Type : Full-Time
Staff Research Associate (9612C) 22312 About Berkeley
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Application Review Date
The First Review Date for this job is: August 30, 2021
Departmental Overview
The Exercise Physiology laboratory under direction of Professor George A. Brooks conducts basic and applied research on substrate partitioning in men and women. Recently, Professor Brooks along with Thomas Carlson (MD, UCB) and Umesh Masharani (MD, UCSF) have been awarded a significant research grant from the NIH to evaluate aspects of the effects of aging, exercise, and exercise training on mitochondrial biogenesis, energetics and dynamics in striated muscle (cardiac, red, white, intermediate), and white adipose tissue (WAT) as those tissues affect metabolic flexibility. Human use protocols will involve exercise stress testing as a screening procedure and Oral Glucose Tolerance Tests (OGTTs) with tracers aboard for evaluation of metabolic flexibility. Principal Investigator (Pl), Professor Brooks is in need of a physiology staff person to work with SRA Michael Horning (who will handle mass spectrometric analysis of blood from subjects during and after OGT testing with tracers aboard), and Dr.'s Carlson and Masharani who will provide medical coverage; take tissue biopsies, and, if necessary, insert arm vein and back of the hand venous catheters for tracer infusion and blood sampling, respectively. The successful physiology staff person will coordinate activities with the Pl, Dr.'s Carlson and Masharani, SRA Horning, the SRA working on the animal study arm of the NIH award, as well as post-doctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students in the Brooks, Exercise Physiology. As well, ii would be advantageous if the successful candidate were medically licensed to place catheters for isotope tracer infusion and serial blood sampling such as medical doctor (MD), registered nurse (RN), or Physician Assistant (PA).
This specific position offered is in the Brooks, Exercise Physiology Laboratory of Professor Brooks, but the research effort is linked to that in the laboratory of Prof. Jose Vazquez-Medina who is a co investigator on the NIH sponsored research effort. Hence, the successful candidate will be expected to work effectively with his/her counterpart working on cultured cells, lab rodents and cells and tissues isolated from them.
Responsibilities
Laboratory management including equipment maintenance, ordering of supplies and maintenance of stock laboratory materials.
Human subject recruitment; evaluation of study participant health history and dietary questionnaires, exercise stress testing and dietary assessment of potential participants as described above.
Training of laboratory personnel involved in human experimentation in health safety procedures, maintain the Chemical Hygiene Plan, maintain up to date training in laboratory safety. Obtain CITI and EH&S human research training for her-/himself and others involved in human experimentation.
Set up for and conduct exercise stress testing and tracer-modified OGTTs to the extent permitted by the CPHS, process blood samples for metabolite, hormone and GC/MS analyses, the latter to be conducted by SRA Horning.
Conduct standard laboratory analyses of blood and tissue samples including spectrophotometric, colorimetric, enzymatic HPLC, ELISA, and RIA analyses of metabolites and hormones.
Participate in data analysis and drafting of manuscripts for publication.
Responsibility for compliance with EH&S, and CPHS requirements in the laboratory. Work with other Laboratory SRAs, graduate and undergraduate (students, post-doctoral fellows and visiting scientists to make a cohesive, functioning and happy workplace.
Required Qualifications
Technical scientific personnel management skills as indicated above.
Competent with exercise stress testing certified by the ACSM as and Exercise Stress Test Technologist, certified as a phlebotomist or to place venous catheters and take blood samples, familiarity with Laboratory Operations and Safety and safe and appropriate handling of biological specimens.
AB or AB and MS degrees in a relevant field with several years relevant research experience and/or equivalent experience/knowledge.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience with human physiology or exercise stress testing and exercise physiology research.
Experience tissue sampling, tissue fragmentation, cell an mitochondrial isolation and respiration, identification of regulatory proteins and genes by RT-qPCR, Western and Northern blotting, ELISA, and microscopy, and doing or working with others using mass spectrometry RNAseq.
CITI Certification for human subject experimentation,
UC trainings and/or equivalent experience/training: Lab Safety Fundamentals, Biosafety, Hazardous Waste Program, Spill Response, and Blood Borne Pathogens.
The ideal candidate will be licensed to insert venous catheters for, forearm venous isotope tracer cocktail infusion, and on the contra-lateral hand serial blood sampling involving establishing saline drips to prevent catheter coagulation.Such licensure is typical of licensed MDs, RNs, and PAs. If not, experience with phlebotomy would be preferred. As well, the ideal candidate should be capable of assisting physician investigators in muscle and adipose biopsy sampling.
Salary & Benefits
Salary will be commensurate with experience (stepped rates).
For information on the comprehensive benefits package offered by the University visit:
https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/compensation-and-benefits/index.html