Description
The Zhen Laboratory at UCLA is dedicated to advancing
immune engineering approaches to treat HIV, cancer, and other chronic diseases.
The lab specializes in hematopoietic stem cell and T-cell based gene and cell
therapies-including CAR-T and CAR-NK-while exploring mechanisms of immune
exhaustion and the intersection of virology, immunology, and regenerative
medicine. We are seeking a motivated and skilled Staff Research Associate to
join our team and contribute to the development of our cell therapy programs.
The successful candidate will play a key role in executing and optimizing
experiments related to immune cell engineering and animal studies, as well as
generating and interpreting data. Key Responsibilities may include: carrying
out cell culture, including cell lines and primary cell culture; perform
molecular cloning; produce and characterize lentiviruses; AAV and use of other
gene engineering platforms. Salary Range: $27.85 - $33.21 Hourly
Qualifications
Required:
- Bachelor's degree or higher in biology or related field and/or
equivalent experience and/or training - Working knowledge and experience with basic biology.
- Skill in using BSL2 laboratory practices and sterile
techniques. - Skill in preparing media and reagents used in tissue
culture work. - Skill in handling human cells and cell lines (adherent and
suspension). Skill in counting cells, freezing/thawing cells, storing cells,
passaging cell lines, maintaining primary cells. - Skill in performing vector transfection, transduction, and
titration. - Skill in flow cytometry staining of samples (cells, blood,
tissue). - Ability to learn flow cytometry acquisition and analysis;
ability to learn MACSQuant and Fortessa flow cytometer use. - Skill in performing DNA/RNA extractions, viral RNA, PCR,
RT-PCR. - Skill in molecular cloning: restriction enzyme digestion,
bacterial cultures, plasmid preparation. Skill in gel electrophoresis. - Skill in database management, utilizing inventory software.
- Willing to work long hours (planned or unplanned),
overtime, or alternate hours (such as weekends, offset hours and late at night)
as requested. - Skill in performing a given protocol in a reproducible way.
Skill in reading laboratory protocols and other scientific documents. Skill in
troubleshooting and optimizing protocols as necessary, documenting any protocol
deviations with thorough explanation of why deviation occurred. - Ability to work independently to finish tasks in a timely
manner. Ability to adjust to changes in the workload and switch focus as
needed. Very organized with meticulous attention to detail. Skill in detailed
documentation of activities, tasks, progress, observations, etc. - Skill in using Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Google
Docs, Dropbox, Box, Mac computers, iPad. Familiarity with FlowJo. - Skill in maintaining accurate and detailed records of
experiments and paperwork. - Skill in creating and maintaining computerized records of
experiments and data; skill in identifying anomalies in data or results, and
proactively notifying supervisor in a timely manner. - Skill in performing mathematical calculations.
- Skill in using common laboratory equipment including:
micropipettes, pipets, microscopes, centrifuges, ultracentrifuges, CO2
incubators, waterbaths, electrophoresis equipment, thermal cyclers, flow
cytometers, autoclave.
Preferred:
- Ability to work with HIV in a biosafety cabinet. Ability to
grow virus stocks. - Skill in safely handling mice, including HIV infected mice.
- Skill in performing animal manipulations- various
injections, retroorbital bleeding, euthanizations, tissue harvesting. - Skill in processing mouse tissues (blood, spleen, thymus,
lung, liver, brain, bone marrow, and more) in a biosafety cabinet. - Ability to process primate blood.
- Ability to process human liver and thymus. Ability to
perform HLA-subtyping; analyze results based on a standard kit. - Skill in isolating cell sub-populations from human and
mouse blood/tissue.
|
University of California - Los Angeles Health
Nov 26, 2025