Organizational Unit Overview
The Department of Microbiology and Immunology is a distinguished research and teaching facility of East Carolina University School of Medicine consisting of approximately 50 people. This department provides an academic base for teacher-scientists employed by the School of Medicine at East Carolina University in the disciplines of microbiology, immunology, molecular biology, and other related disciplines. The department provides instruction to medical students and dental students and provides instruction, guidance, and research experience to Ph.D. and M.S. students seeking degrees in microbiology and immunology. The department also offers a postdoctoral research training program. The department supports an array of faculty-directed research programs of which many are supported by extramural grants and/or contracts. The department provides service to the school, university, state, nation, and to the profession by activities of faculty members on committees, study sections, in professional organizations, as consultants, and through other activities.
Job Duties
This position is responsible for planning, prioritizing, scheduling, conducting, and analyzing various experiments in various research projects. Additionally, this position compiles and evaluates data and participates in the preparation of extramural grant applications and written and oral research reports. This position also supervises research activities and participates in the training of undergraduate and graduate students and other research technicians, tests and optimizes new research procedures, evaluates and oversees managerial strategies for laboratory personnel, conducts literature reviews, and evaluates this information to establish new techniques and to gather new theoretical information to advance our research effort, and manages repair and acquisition of research equipment and material. The duties of the Research Specialist will also include conducting molecular biology research on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and overall management of the ongoing activities in the laboratory.

70%: The researcher’s primary responsibility is to carry out the goals of a particular research project within the laboratory. These goals require the performance of highly technical molecular biology, Biosafety level 2 techniques, and tissue culture including transfection procedures, electrophoresis, Western blot analysis, and ELISA assay. This position requires more technical molecular biological expertise such as PCR, restriction mapping of plasmid inserts, cloning, and transformation of bacteria. The researcher will be expected to become an expert in HIV-1 virological research, such as preparing virus particles and quantifying the titer. The researcher will display great independence in collecting data and troubleshooting to get the experimental results. The researcher will perform sterile tissue harvesting and cell purification. The researcher will be trained and proficient in biosafety and chemical safety procedures.
The researcher will report results to the PI once a week as a weekly summary. The researcher will be expected to assist in the training and supervision of undergraduate, MD, MS, and PhD graduate students in the laboratory. The researcher will assist in the supervision of new researchers, design and conduct independent scientific experiments (with the approval of the PI), and present data at laboratory meetings, as well as local and national scientific meetings.

15%: Responsible for ensuring that the laboratory is well stocked with commonly used disposables such as; pipettes, tissue culture flasks, tissue culture plates, pipette tips, and centrifuge tubes. Ensure that accurate laboratory records are kept on placed orders and that the receipts of those orders are processed efficiently. Help create a collegial and team atmosphere in the laboratory.

15%: Teach common laboratory techniques to incoming students and help with troubleshooting common errors.
Minimum Education/Experience
Bachelor’s degree in a discipline related to the area of assignment; or equivalent combination of training and experience.
License or Certification required by statute or regulation
N/A
Preferred Experience, Skills, Training/Education
Molecular biology experience
License or Certification required by the Department
N/A
Special Instructions to Applicant
Please ensure your full range of knowledge, skills, abilities, experience and education are listed on your application. Do not write ‘see resume’ on your application when completing the job duties section.
If you answer the questions at the end of the application, please ensure your application reflects the knowledge, skills, abilities and experiences to support your answers (see job duties section of previous employment).
Failure to answer the questions at the end of the application will not preclude your application from being considered but may result in your application not receiving full consideration of your knowledge, skills, and abilities.
Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis.