Associate Scientist- Kumar Laboratory

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital • Memphis, TN

33d • $65,520 - $114,400

About The Position

The Kumar Laboratory in the Department of Host-Microbe Interactions at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital studies how medications and host immune factors remodel the gut microbiome and affect intestinal homeostasis. The lab combines clinical and high-throughput omics datasets with mechanistic molecular microbiology, anaerobic culturomics, and gnotobiotic models to investigate microbiome-related susceptibility to infectious and non-infectious gastrointestinal diseases.

The Associate Scientist will drive core research projects, lead in vivo operations, and support overall laboratory management. This role requires substantial scientific independence to carry out complex experimental workflows and help maintain a productive, well-organized research environment. The position is full-time, based in Memphis, Tennessee, and scheduled for 40 hours per week on a weekday day shift.

The minimum education requirement is a bachelor’s degree in a relevant scientific area. Required research experience is 7 or more years, 5 or more years with a master’s degree, or 2 or more years with a Ph.D. The stated salary range is $65,520–$114,400 per year. Candidates should submit a cover letter outlining their research background, leadership and in vivo workflow experience, and career goals.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant scientific area.
• At least 7 years of research experience; at least 5 years with a master’s degree; or at least 2 years with a Ph.D.
• Proven performance in an earlier or comparable role.

Nice To Haves

• Experience leading and supporting research experiments.
• Experience leading laboratory and scientific project coordination, maintenance, and other research support activities.
• Experience guiding and training other laboratory personnel.
• Experience with anaerobic bacteriology, culturomics, mucosal immunology assays, or basic computational workflows for microbiome analysis using R or Python.

Responsibilities

• Lead in vivo research workflows, coordinating and conducting experiments across germ-free, gnotobiotic (isolator and IVC systems), and conventional colonies.
• Conduct infectious challenges, oral gavages, colonized consortia studies, and tissue harvests.
• Independently design, perform, optimize, and troubleshoot complex experiments in molecular biology, anaerobic bacteriology, culturomics, and microbial genetics.
• Coordinate day-to-day laboratory operations, including ordering and purchasing reagents and consumables, maintaining vendor relationships, and managing equipment maintenance and calibrations.
• Write and update standard operating procedures, biosafety protocols, and IACUC amendments.
• Process, organize, and rigorously analyze experimental data.
• Lead or make significant contributions to drafting, editing, and revising manuscripts, figures, grant applications, and progress reports.
• Provide technical guidance, protocol training, and day-to-day support to junior lab members, rotation graduate students, and research technologists.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level