The Senior Animal Technician (SAT) is responsible for providing support to users of the Gnotobiotic Core mouse facility, including basic facility maintenance and husbandry within gnotobiotic isolators, such as monitoring food, water, and bedding conditions, monitoring stocks of consumables and reordering in a timely manner, temperature/humidity checks, and maintaining detailed records of tasks performed, in addition to other duties as assigned. The SAT must be comfortable performing mouse health checks and interacting with UCSF veterinary and facilities staff as necessary. These duties, while non-supervisory, take place in a specialty core facility where all levels of care are enhanced compared to normal animal technician duties. In addition to husbandry duties descripbed above, the SAT will work to breed, genotype, and maintain colony records over successive generations of mice. This work requires meticulous attention to detail, with every item coming into the enclosure being completely sterile, or the entire colony will be lost.
The successful candidate will also have the ability to perform advanced experimental techniques as needed to help to Core users as they plan and execute experiments (for example, the SAT may administer or train others on administration of experimental agents via oral, i.p., or subcutaneous routes, and follow up with experimental disease scoring and tracking, dissection and processing of tissues, or other techniques deemed experimentally necessary on behalf of Core users). Laboratory techniques will be employed to monitor sterility of our germ-free mouse colonies, including microbial culture and gram staining, with the possibility of learning/performing other molecular techniques, such as DNA extraction and genotyping.
The final salary and offer components are subject to additional approvals based on UC policy.
To see the salary range for this position (we recommend that you make a note of the job code and use that to look up): TCS Non-Academic Titles Search (https://tcs.ucop.edu/non-academic-titles)
Please note: An offer will take into consideration the experience of the final candidate AND the current salary level of individuals working at UCSF in a similar role.
For roles covered by a bargaining unit agreement, there will be specific rules about where a new hire would be placed on the range.
To learn more about the benefits of working at UCSF, including total compensation, please visit: https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/compensation-and-benefits/index.html
- Prior work in gnotobiotics
- Lab skills including the ability to prepare, perform, and interpret the following assays: aerobic and anaerobic cultures, DNA extraction, qPCR, standard PCR, agarose gel electrophoresis, genotyping
- Prior work in an AAALAC accredited animal facility, including knowledge of feeding, caging, and space requirements for rodents used in biomedical research, and the ability to assist training new hires in these areas
- Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent degree)
- Veterinary Technician License
- Practical knowledge of lab safety and the ability to follow protocols closely
- Excellent organizational and interpersonal communication skills in English (verbal and written)
- Rodent handling experience in a research or veterinary setting
- Detail oriented and capable of working independently
- Evidence of precise communication skills and record keeping
- Basic computer skills (Microsoft Word, Excel, and ability to learn and use web-based software for data entry and/or online training)
- Flexibility to work occasional variable hours, weekends as deemed experimentally necessary
- Desire to learn new skill sets and contribute to the problem-solving nature of our facility
- Mouse skills including: handling, restraint, breeding
- Ability to recognize sick animals, report conditions to veterinary staff or supervisor, and assist with their treatment
- Ability to follow instructions, work independently or in shared assignments with others; Ability to explain routine work assignments to others including policies and best practices using positive communication (verbal and written)