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SoBran is seeking a Research Support Specialist III (Gnotobiotics) to serve at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. 

OVERVIEW:  Responsible for all activities required for supporting / maintaining animal colony and relative studies for the Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology located at NIH facilities.

Description of Duties:

1. Ability to work independently and as part of a team to manage multiple animal studies running concurrently in different phases, by following and complying respectively with the Animal Study Proposals
2. Perform technical duties associated with the lab’s Animal Study Proposals such as obtaining blood films, withdrawals and smears, performing IP, IM, IV, ID and SQ injections in the above-mentioned species
3. Obtain biological sample collections to support and maintain parasitology studies with Plasmodium sp.
4. Maintain animal colonies and organization of animal inventory associated with the lab’s Animal Study Proposals to include monitoring of procedures, maintaining the amounts of animals used and animal procurement
5. Maintain Plasmodium sp. parasites lifecycles through the use of mice and mosquito vector
6. Set up animal protocols to include writing and following relative SOP’s
7. Maintain integrity of the research process by following good laboratory practices including detailed accurate record keeping of methods, routine animal observations, data collections as well as procurement, processing, and preservation of specimens to maintain sample identification and prevention of cross contamination
8. Ability to learn the skills to perform a wide variety of laboratory procedures and techniques which may include, but are not limited to: parasite manipulation, and isolation from host animals/mosquitos, parasite detections using microscopy, etc.
9. Ability to learn the skills to perform the calibrating and operating of a variety of laboratory instruments used to perform tests, analyses, and other laboratory procedures
10. Practice universal precautions appropriate to different levels of ABSL. Work safely with animal / human pathogen biohazard’s and help to maintain the research animal facility as a safe work environment / operation
11. Maintain optimum care and maintenance of research equipment, for the routine hygiene and disinfection of research implements, and acting as a facilitator for entry of service personnel and facility users
12. Participation in meetings with investigator’s, to assist in coordinating animal research needs and development of studies
13. Ability to adapt and modify established approaches and methods to meet experimental objectives. Skill in interpreting and evaluating the significance of experimental data as related to the specific project or assignment
14. Skill in written communication to prepare summaries, graphs, and other material for internal reports, manuscripts or presentations
15. Serve as a “point of contact" or “Liaison” for the Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology in conjunction with the Comparative Medicine Branch contract staff
16. Report any animal health, care, and / or well being concerns to the appropriate facility management staff
17. Report any facility infrastructure, relative to the animal holding areas and support areas, to the appropriate facility management
18. Ability to work planned and flexible hours and travel between NIH facility locations to ensure research needs and experiments are carried out to comply with appropriate timelines to include weekends, nights and holidays as needed
19. Ability to interact with all personnel in a manner which promotes a professional work environment
20. Perform other duties as assigned