CryoEM Staff Scientist

Howard Hughes Medical Institute•Ashburn, VA

24d•$97,082 - $121,353•Onsite

About The Position

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus is a pioneering research center in Ashburn, Virginia, where scientists pursue fundamental questions in the life sciences. Our integrated teams of biologists, computational scientists, and tool-builders innovate research practices and technologies to solve biology’s deepest mysteries. HHMI launched Janelia in 2006, establishing an intellectually enriching environment for scientists to do creative, collaborative, hands-on work. We share our methods, results, and tools with the scientific community. This is a role for someone who wants their scientific judgment to show up in other people's data, not just their own. The CryoEM Shared Resource at Janelia Research Campus runs four highly configured Titan Krios microscopes, an Aquilos2 and a Hydra cryo FIBSEM, screening electron microscopes, cryo light microscopes, and a full grid-preparation setup, serving structural and cell biologists across the entire HHMI community. You'll collect high-throughput data for users, take a leading role in the cryoEM side of collaboration projects, and build new methods and protocols when the existing ones fall short. You'll work closely with users and collaborators throughout: planning experiments together, reviewing what the data shows, and figuring out the next step as a peer, not just an instrument operator.

Requirements

A scientist first. You hold a PhD in a related field and think about an experiment the way a collaborator would, not just an instrument operator.
Fluent in the hardware. Comfortable with Linux, bash scripting, and basic Python, enough to troubleshoot a problem rather than just report it.
Steady inside a moving target. You can hold several concurrent user projects in your head and still make room for whatever breaks that day.
A real teacher. You enjoy explaining a technique as much as running it, and training someone else doesn't feel like a distraction from your work.

Nice To Haves

Hands-on experience with cryoEM sample preparation, data collection, or image processing.
A background in 4D STEM, if you're coming from outside biology.
Experience with image-processing software.

Responsibilities

Run the microscopes, end to end. Operate and maintain equipment from sample-preparation systems to the Krios microscopes, and troubleshoot hardware and software issues directly with peers and vendor engineers.
Own pieces of collaboration projects. Take a leading role in the cryoEM portion of research collaborations, from planning experiments through reviewing results and proposing next steps.
Build new protocols and methods. Develop, implement, and test new protocols for sample preparation, data collection, and image processing, and fold what works into the facility's standard workflow.
Keep the facility current. Track new developments in cryoEM and actively bring useful techniques back into the workflow rather than waiting for someone else to.
Teach it forward. Train users and new staff on cryoEM methods and equipment so the facility's expertise doesn't live in one person's head.
Handle the physical realities. Manage samples, cryo dewars, and dry shippers correctly. A mishandled sample is data nobody gets back. Manage and transfer data properly.