Animal Lab Tech I - Comparative Medicine

Cedars-Sinai•Los Angeles, CA

About The Position

The Comparative Medicine department is seeking a motivated and eager Animal Lab Tech I to join their team! The Department of Comparative Medicine is dedicated to the facilitation of biomedical research utilizing animals, while striving to maintain the highest quality of ethical, humane and appropriate animal care. The Department is committed to continuing to improve the quality of services provided to research investigators for the purpose of improving the health of humans and animals. We support groundbreaking research with consultation, training, veterinary care, and facility maintenance services. To learn more, please visit Comparative Medicine | Cedars-Sinai. Are you ready to be a part of groundbreaking research? The Animal Lab Technician I (ALTI) is an entry level position for technicians with less than one year of experience in the husbandry of laboratory animals. Job responsibilities include knowledge and application of relevant laboratory animal medicine standards, rules, and regulations and performing animal husbandry tasks under direct or indirect supervision. These tasks include but are not limited to performing daily animal health checks, daily cage assessment, cage changing, primary enclosure wash and disinfection, maintenance of animal rooms and comprehension and application of standard operating procedures (SOP) to prevent cross contamination of colony animals and equipment. Cedars-Sinai is a leader in providing high-quality healthcare encompassing primary care, specialized medicine and research. Since 1902, Cedars-Sinai has evolved to meet the needs of one of the most diverse regions in the nation, setting standards in quality and innovative patient care, research, teaching and community service. Today, Cedars- Sinai is known for its national leadership in transforming healthcare for the benefit of patients. Cedars-Sinai impacts the future of healthcare by developing new approaches to treatment and educating tomorrow's health professionals. Additionally, Cedars-Sinai demonstrates a commitment to the community through programs that improve the health of its most vulnerable residents. Cedars-Sinai is one of the largest nonprofit academic medical centers in the U.S., with 886 licensed beds, 2,100 physicians, 2,800 nurses and thousands of other healthcare professionals and staff. Choose this if you want to work in a fast-paced environment that offers the highest level of care to people in the Los Angeles that need our care the most.

Responsibilities

Sanitizes primary enclosures either by cage changing (e.g. rodents) or enclosure wash and disinfection (e.g. swine and canine) including high pressure washing, disinfectant handling and waste management.
Assists in routine and special feeding, watering, handling (safely transferring animals from one enclosure to another) and changes cages and sanitizes primary enclosure for all species housed in the vivarium.
Follows written and verbal instructions to provide special diets and medicated water to animals in the vivarium.
Provides care for both immune-competent and immune-compromised animals, which may also be designated as biohazardous or chemically hazardous.
Provides a basic assessment of animal general appearance, clinical signs, and behavior to recognize normal vs abnormal conditions in animals.
Reports abnormal conditions in animals to the clinical team for further assessment, including overcrowding and non compliances related to animal welfare and health.
Assists clinical and research staff with animal handling and basic treatments of all rodents (teeth trimming, separation, euthanasia).
Performs veterinary related tasks post training by Clinical Staff and maintains clinical records as required; rodent breeding tasks may be performed as needed.
Provides species-specific environmental enrichment to animals according to Comparative Medicine standards.
Assists with animal receiving as instructed by the Animal Care Coordinator.
Monitors animal room environmental parameters (e.g. temperature, photoperiods, and humidity), accurately records environmental data and reports abnormalities to ALTIII or Supervisor.
Assists the ALTIII and/or area Supervisor with vivarium support tasks including but not limited to Reverse Osmosis/Deionized water system checks, Individual Ventilated Cage rack cycling, and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and feed and bedding inventory audits.