Assistant Research Scientist

Texas A&M • College Station, TX

3d • Onsite

About The Position

Texas A&M AgriLife is comprised of the following Texas A&M University System members: Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University, Texas A&M Forest Service, Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory. As the nation’s largest most comprehensive agriculture program, Texas A&M AgriLife brings together a college and four state agencies focused on agriculture and life sciences within The Texas A&M University System. With over 5,000 employees and a presence in every county across the state, Texas A&M AgriLife is uniquely positioned to improve lives, environments and the Texas economy through education, research, extension and service.

Primary focus will be on arthropod physiology, toxicology, and molecular biology with emphasis on G-protein coupled receptor functional characterization. We are discovering ligands of GPCRs and testing them in tissues and whole animals for bioactivity. Endocrinological studies are performed with mosquitoes and tick tissues in vitro and in vivo. The Assistant Research Scientist will take the lead on a project that characterizes the activity of small molecules and peptides on arthropod neuropeptide receptors in vivo or in vitro. They will develop and execute research to determine the efficacy, inhibitory or agonistic activity of these molecules. This will involve undertaking chemical library screens on recombinant arthropod receptors expressed in cell lines, RNAi studies to knockdown peptides and receptors to determine their physiological role and quantifying silencing by qRT-PCR, immunolocalization of labeling analyses with tissues, injection of peptides or small molecules into ticks and analyze behavior with EthoVision software.

Requirements

• Ph.D. in Entomology, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Genetics, Biology, Animal Physiology, or other closely related field.
• Demonstrated research experience/background in bioassays, molecular biology techniques (including qRT-PCR, cloning, basic microbiology, and western blot), experimental design and basic statistical analysis.
• Experience with histochemistry and/or cellular techniques (tissue culture); manuscript writing experience; and have a peer-reviewed publication record.
• An interest in arthropod neurobiology and physiology, and experience with mosquitoes and/or other blood feeders highly desirable.
• Must know biochemical calculations to prepare buffers, media, solutions and correct dilutions of small molecules and peptides.
• Some related research experience.
• Publications.
• Able to analyze data statistically with either GraphPad Prism, or R, SAS.
• Ability to travel to South Texas or and Kerrville, TX for a few days at the time, even if sporadically.
• Ability to work in a biosafety level 2 laboratory which requires certification for this level at TAMU.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with robots for high-throughput screens (will be trained on this).
• Experience with mosquitoes and/or other blood feeders highly desirable.

Responsibilities

• Record and analyze data/results; report research through regular oral presentations and reports and publish in a timely manner in refereed journals; assist with research grant project reports; and keep abreast of all current literature on subject matter, etc.
• Contribute to the success and renewal of federally funded projects.
• Work involves mammalian cell culture and use of robots for high-throughput screens (experience desirable but will be trained on this).
• Duties will include cloning and functional expression analysis of tick and fire ant G-protein coupled receptors in mammalian cells; calcium fluorescence and bioluminescence assays, histochemistry, quantitative (Real-time PCR), etc.; and supervision of technical staff, graduate and undergraduate students.
• Conduct research with mosquitoes of public health importance.
• Conduct research with ticks of medical and/or agricultural importance.
• Conduct feeding and pesticide mosquito bioassays in the laboratory.
• Other job-related duties as required.

Benefits

• Health, dental, vision, life and long-term disability insurance (AgriLife contributes to premiums)
• 12–15 annual paid holidays
• Up to 8 hours/month sick leave and at least 8 hours/month vacation
• Automatic enrollment in the Teacher Retirement System of Texas
• Employee Wellness Initiative
• Access to ongoing professional development and training through Aspire, LinkedIn Learning, and internally developed programs

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree