Senior Scientist (Genome Engineering) – Genetics Full-time

Senior Scientist Position

The Senior Scientist in the Cremins Lab will be responsible for both oversight and implementation of specific research projects as well as participating in collaborative projects with other lab members and developing experimental protocols and experimental cell and molecular biology standards for the laboratory. The scientist will work on projects broadly encompassing genome engineering in the form of degrons, dTAG systems, Cas9, Cas13, dCas, CRISPRoff, CRISPRon, and other new molecular technologies. The scientist will also lead experiments differentiating human iPSCs to neurons or organoids. The ideal candidate will be versatile with both genome engineering and cell biology skills for new tech dev projects, standardizing genome engineering pipelines, providing feedback to trainees on construct building, and developing publication quality workflows for the in situ sequencing data analysis. Candidate will work as a subTeam leader over the progression of genome engineering projects and be responsible for maintaining and organizing lab records, training junior scientists on technical assays, working with the PI to prepare and review manuscripts, and helping with writing content for grant applications. Will collaborate with the team to design, optimize, and standardize experimental and analysis pipelines to accelerate high-quality publications. Will review trainee data, provide feedback, and help ensure experiments are conducted in a single variable manner with positive and negative controls. The ideal candidate should have a strong background in: culturing induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs); differentiation of pluripotent cells into neuronal lineages; genome engineering using CRISPR/Cas9; molecular biology and biochemistry laboratory techniques (e.g., molecular cloning); cell biology approaches (e.g., immunofluorescence, RNA/DNA fluorescence in situ hybridization); routine chromatin techniques and sequencing-based technologies (e.g., RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, CUT&Tag/CUT&RUN Hi-C). Prior experience in mentoring and supervising students and trainees is highly desirable. Prior experience in grant writing is advantageous. This role is ideal for you if you enjoy the excitement of a bleeding-edge scientific laboratory and welcome the challenge of serving as a steady consistent imaging and computational scientist role in a fast-paced environment. Those who will thrive in the role are dedicated to collaboration and keen on playing an active role in maintaining excellent protocols, a clean, organized, and safe laboratory, and eager to lead themselves and others toward maintaining a warm, positive, and inclusive lab climate. Organized individuals with a can-do attitude, a passion for building unity and community within a larger laboratory, a knack for independent problem-solving and getting things done, and the ability to independently and positively create molecular and cellular data with attention to detail would excel in this role.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities:

• Collaborates on designing, conducting and reporting of research projects.
• Responsible for deliverables of the Cremins lab genome engineering subTeam – including, but not limited to, conceptual selection of experimental strategies, protocol development, experimental design, validation, and training of other lab members in key bleeding edge experimental cell and molecular biology assays, including degrons/dTAG systems engineered in humans iPSCs, Cas13 RNA editing, dCas9 based CRISPRi, and CRISPRa, and other new cutting edge broadly relevant genome engineering technologies.
• Builds strong expertise in training in human iPSC differentiation to organoids and monolayer neurons as well as pilots experiments to facilitate neural aging in the lab.
• Leads multiple papers and major research papers at the center of the laboratories larger goals. Designs, conducts, assists and oversees experiments and original research in the area of neuronal genome regulation with a focus on elucidating structure-function relationships across scales of nucleus, synapses, circuits.
• Assists PI with NIH required data portal approvals, Grant and University-related paperwork, yearly RRPR reports for every one of the lab's grants – including coordinating with the subTeam members to get the content assembled.
• Edits and gives feedback on postdoc and student proposal, grant submission, and manuscript drafts.
• Collaborates fluidly with computational experts to conduct efficient analyses leading to discovery in mammalian neuron genome structure-function data. In parallel, trains to achieve mastery and excellence in running code written by other members of the lab to analyze genomic and imaging data, for example calling DMLs in methylation data, calling compartments, TADs, subTADs, loops in Hi-C/Micro-C data, or peak calling of Cut&Run and Cut&Tag data.
• Mentors Junior trainees in scientific endeavors under the purview of the SRI's expertise and trains new lab members on genome engineering and cellular differentiation.
• Oversees and writes established SOPs for new and existing molecular sequencing technologies – genome engineering, new and existing computational algorithms – iPSC differentiation to neurons, organoids, and assembloids.
• Complies with established safety procedures and maintains required documentation on laboratory and specimen conditions (maintaining lab freezer maps and plasmid and antibody maps and reagent storage with excellence to keep a 25 person lab organized with high quality infrastructure).
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Working Conditions:

• Works in a laboratory environment with potential exposure to biological, chemical and radioactive hazards.
• Must be physically able to wear protective equipment and to provide standard care to research animals.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all job duties performed by the personnel so classified. Management reserves the right to revise or amend duties at any time.

Required Qualifications

Education: Phd Or Terminal Degree Or Combination Of Education And Experience May Substitute For Minimum Education.

Certifications/Professional Licenses: No specific certification/professional license is required for this position.

Work Experience: Postdoctoral (3 Years)

Skills: Not Applicable

Driver's License: A driver's license is not required for this position.

More About This Job

Preferred Qualifications:

• PhD in cell biology, genome engineering/biotechnology, or neuroscience.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, independent thinking, and a desire to work in a complex and high-energy environment with honor and respect shown to all lab members across rank and the PI.
• Experience in CRISPR and other forms of genome engineering is highly preferred.
• Experience in some combinations of human iPSC culture, brain organoids, neuron characterization, computational biology, or in vivo AAV or lentivirus injections.
• Some experience with the Python/R programming language, Linux environment, and cluster computing is a positive.
• Excellent organizational and time management skills.
• Ability to work with a multi-disciplinary team.

Grade

R12

Salary Range

$63,400.00 – $115,000.00 / AnnuallyThe salary range reflects base salaries paid for positions in a given job grade across the University. Individual rates within the range will be determined by factors including one's qualifications and performance, equity with others in the department, market rates for positions within the same grade and department budget.

Questions

For frequently asked questions about the application process, please refer to our External Applicant FAQ.

Accommodation

If you are unable to use our online application system and would like an accommodation, please email CandidateQuestions@wustl.edu or call the dedicated accommodation inquiry number at 314-935-1149 and leave a voicemail with the nature of your request.

All qualified individuals must be able to perform the essential functions of the position satisfactorily and, if requested, reasonable accommodations will be made to enable employees with disabilities to perform the essential functions of their job, absent undue hardship.

Pre-Employment Screening

All external candidates receiving an offer for employment will be required to submit to pre-employment screening for this position. The screenings will include criminal background check and, as applicable for the position, other background checks, drug screen, an employment and education or licensure/certification verification, physical examination, certain vaccinations and/or governmental registry checks. All offers are contingent upon successful completion of required screening.

Benefits Statement

Personal

• Up to 22 days of vacation, 10 recognized holidays, and sick time.
• Competitive health insurance packages with priority appointments and lower copays/coinsurance.
• Take advantage of our free Metro transit U-Pass for eligible employees.
• WashU provides eligible employees with a defined contribution (403(b