Research Engineering/ Scientist Associate I

Job Posting Title:

Research Engineering/ Scientist Associate I

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Hiring Department:

Molecular Biosciences

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Position Open To:

All Applicants

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Weekly Scheduled Hours:

40

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FLSA Status:

Exempt

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Earliest Start Date:

Immediately

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Position Duration:

Expected to Continue Until Nov 20, 2025

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Location:

UT MAIN CAMPUS

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Job Details:

General Notes

This position will end effective one year from start date. Subsequent annual renewal of employment will be based upon performance review, progress towards research goals, and continuation of funding.

Purpose

Work on the final stages of a project with the goal of carrying out a deep mutational scan of the transmembrane domain of the cold- and menthol-sensitive TRPM8 channel, by expressing libraries in mammalian cells, sorting libraries under diverse test conditions, preparing DNA amplicons for NGS from the sorted cell libraries, and bioinformatics analysis of NGS data to assign phenotypes to genotypes. Job holder will have to work with relative independence to plan, organize and carry out experiments, and seek out the support of the lab supervisor or other lab members whenever necessary.

Responsibilities

• Attend weekly lab meetings to present updates about the work done that week and the work planned for the next week.

• Conduct and optimize wet lab research activities mainly consisting of: tissue culture work, protein library expression in iCasp9 cells, cell library maintenance and storage, cell library sorting experiments in the FACS facility, genomic DNA extraction from cell libraries, DNA amplicon generation and purification from extracted genomic DNA, NGS amplicon preparation and delivery to GSAF.

• Conduct bioinformatics analysis of NGS data from sorted cells, involving quality control, variant calling, enrichment calculations for each of the variants in libraries under different test conditions, establish genotype to phenotype assignments for variants in library.

• Contribute to preparing figures to display variant data and phenotypes.

• Contribute to writing of a research manuscript presenting the results of our deep mutational scan of the TRPM8 channel.

• Document and curate research activities to ensure reproducibility, communicate with PI on progress and issues.

Required Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in biology, biochemistry, neuroscience, or related field. Experience with tissue culture of mammalian cells. Experience working with ion channel variant libraries: cloning, expression, and functional assessment. Experience preparing mammalian cell samples for fluorescence activated cell sorting, and sorting of cellular libraries expressing ion channel variants. Experience with genomic cell extraction kits. Experience preparing DNA amplicons from genomic extracts to be utilized for next-generation sequencing.

Preferred Qualifications

NGS data analysis experience. Experience with bioinformatics pipelines for variant calling and variant enrichment analysis. Python and R coding.
 

Salary Range

$37,000

Working Conditions

• Uniforms and/or personal protection equipment (furnished).

• May work around chemical fumes.

• May work around standard office conditions.

• May work around biohazards.

• May work around chemicals.

Required Materials

• Resume/CV

• 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from supervisor

• Letter of interest

Important for applicants who are NOT current university employees or contingent workers: You will be prompted to submit your resume the first time you apply, then you will be provided an option to upload a new Resume for subsequent applications. Any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) will be uploaded in the Application Questions section; you will be able to multi-select additional files. Before submitting your online job application, ensure that ALL Required Materials have been uploaded. Once your job application has been submitted, you cannot make changes.

Important for Current university employees and contingent workers: As a current university employee or contingent worker, you MUST apply within Workday by searching for Find UT Jobs. If you are a current University employee, log-in to Workday, navigate to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left hand navigation menu and then update the sections in your Professional Profile before you apply. This information will be pulled in to your application. The application is one page and you will be prompted to upload your resume. In addition, you must respond to the application questions presented to upload any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) that were noted above

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Employment Eligibility:

Regular staff who have been employed in their current position for the last six continuous months are eligible for openings being recruited for through University-Wide or Open Recruiting, to include both promotional opportunities and lateral transfers. Staff who are promotion/transfer eligible may apply for positions without supervisor approval.

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Retirement Plan Eligibility:

The retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length.

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Background Checks:

A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position.

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Equal Opportunity Employer:

The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.

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Pay Transparency:

The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.

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Employment Eligibility Verification:

If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form.  You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States.  Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment.  Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university.

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E-Verify:

The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university’s company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following:

• E-Verify Poster (English) [PDF]
• E-Verify Poster (Spanish) [PDF]
• Right To Work Poster (English) [PDF]
• Right To Work Poster (Spanish) [PDF]

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Compliance:

Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031.

The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701.