Lead Research and Animal Care Technician - Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging

Tufts University • Boston, MA

51d • Onsite

About The Position

The Comparative Biology Unit (CBU) is a ~25,000-square-foot animal research facility that is fully accredited by the American Association for Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC). The unit offers a wide range of services including: comprehensive animal care, transgenic rodent breeding services, veterinary surveillance, diet preparation and individualized animal dietary services, animal monitoring, surgery and necropsy. In addition, the CBU houses, operates, and manages the HNRCA rodent behavior and in vivo imaging core. The CBU adheres to strict environmental control guidelines and complies with the Animal Welfare Act provisions, and animal welfare guidelines such as the NIH Guide of the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals standards. All animal studies are reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in Behavioral Neuroscience or equivalent and up to 2 years independent research management experience.
• Must understand and follow written and verbal directions precisely.
• Working knowledge of animal related federal, local, and state guidelines.
• Must be able to work under conditions that includes animal odors, heat and humidity from cage washing rooms, and biohazardous materials and chemicals used in research.
• Experience with Microsoft Office, Teams, and other facility operational software.
• Successfully complete a pre-employment evaluation by the Tufts Occupational Health and Safety, N95/PAPR fit test, and required animal welfare training.
• Strong interpersonal skills and be able to work independently with minimum of supervision.
• Problem solve and take necessary action on experimental and equipment issues.
• Ability to learn and run behavioral and imaging software with minimal oversight.
• Stay current in behavioral literature come up with protocols based on findings.

Nice To Haves

• Master's Degree

Responsibilities

• Supervise and perform basic husbandry duties as required and maintain appropriate detailed records.
• Run day-to-day operations including behavioral testing, small rodent imaging, managing multiple ongoing behavioral/imaging experiments, SOP writing.
• Observe and train junior CBU staff and PIs on various experimental procedures and equipment usage (i.e., necropsy/tissue collection, drug administration, anesthesia usage).
• Maintain experimental databases and records in an organized, coherent fashion.
• Ability to apply dietary intervention procedures (diet preparation, dietary dosing, special feeding procedures including pair feed and liquid diet administration).

What This Job Offers

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