Neuroscience Research Associate I - 118308

UCSD Department of Psychiatry is one of the most innovative and productive academic departments in the country, offering challenging career opportunities in the diverse areas of advanced educational programs, cutting-edge research, and state-of-the-art clinical services. The department is committed to offering a dynamic learning environment and growing opportunities to its talented and dedicated employees.

Under supervision, the incumbent will work as a Neuroscience Research Associate as part of a dynamic preclinical behavioral neuroscience group studying the neurobiological and pharmacological mechanisms underlying several behaviors that are impaired in psychiatric disorders, like anhedonia, motivational deficits, anxiety, cognitive impairment, and drug dependence within the Department of Psychiatry. The incumbent will be responsible for performing routine experimental procedures and testing of laboratory rats in various behavioral tasks including, but not limited to: operant tasks such as reinforcement learning, effort-related choice, probabilistic reversal learning, 5-choice serial reaction time task, and intracranial self-stimulation; and behavioral observation tasks such as social avoidance, sucrose or alcohol preference, open field test, and prepulse inhibition. The Research Associate will prepare and administer experimental drugs to rats during testing via several routes of administration, including intraperitoneal, subcutaneous, and intragastric; will perform serial blood draws; and will perfuse, extract, dissect, process, and section brain tissue from rats. The Research Associate will also be expected to assist with or perform (if competent) survival surgeries involving implantation of intracranial recording and stimulating electrodes for electrophysiological assessment, virus administration, and optic probes for optogenetic experiments. The Research Associate will collect, manage, analyze, and present data from all laboratory testing instruments.

Responsibilities will also include general lab maintenance, including maintaining clean and safe testing areas according to IACUC and EH&S policies and regulations, maintaining testing equipment, assisting with protocol amendments and routine lab inspections, and assisting with ordering and stocking of supplies. Depending on level of independence and intellectual input, there will be opportunities for the Research Associate to present research at scientific conferences, co-author scientific publications, and receive training and guidance for a career in academic or industry research.

• Theoretical knowledge of neuroscience, biology, psychology or a related field and one year of laboratory experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Experience and ability to conduct experiments and surgeries in rodents.

• Proficient in general experimental procedures in a preclinical behavioral laboratory.

• Experience with calculating dosages and dissolving a variety of chemicals, including drug weighing and dilution.

• Experience with data collection and analyses.

• Knowledge of lab safety procedures and policies.

• Good interpersonal communication skills and ability to work with others.

• Proven ability to handle a variety of timed tasks simultaneously and efficiently.

• Demonstrates tremendous attention to detail and ability to assure accuracy of experimental notes, data, and analyses.

• Ability to graph and display experimental results for review by academic personnel.

• Ability to perform daily criterion assignments for operant experiments and to analyze experimental data using statistical software (including SPSS, Prism, and Excel).

• Experience participating in research design.

• Knowledge of rat experimental procedures.

• Employment is subject to a criminal background check.

• Must be willing to handle and euthanize rats.

• Must be available to occasionally work weekends and/or holidays.

Job offer is contingent on successful engagement in the UC COVID-19 Vaccination program (fully vaccinated with documented proof or approved exception/deferral).

If applicable, life-support certifications (BLS, NRP, ACLS, etc.) must include hands-on practice and in-person skills assessment; online-only certification is not acceptable.

UC San Diego Health Sciences is comprised of our School of Medicine, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, The Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, and our Student Health and Well-Being Department. We have long been at the forefront of translational - or "bench-to-bedside" - research, transforming patient care through discovery and innovation leading to new drugs and technologies. Translational research is carried out every day in the hundreds of clinical trials of promising new therapies offered through UC San Diego Health, and in the drive of our researchers and clinician-scientists who are committed to having a significant impact on patient care. We invite you to join our team!

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