Life Science Research Professional 1

Stanford University is seeking a Life Science Research Professional 1 to perform basic functions and activities involved in defined research projects, and independently conduct and analyze experiments.

The Department of Pathology is a founding department of the Stanford School of Medicine and one of the leading departments in the United States. Our preeminent faculty spans from emerging leaders to highly accomplished physicians and scientists, including a Nobel laureate and members of the National Academy. Our mission is to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and basic understanding of human disease. This is done through discovery (research), education, and clinical care.

You will be working with an unparalleled leading-edge community of faculty and staff that are fundamentally changing the world of health care. You will have the opportunity to influence and drive change with your innovative ideas, and the ability to make a difference and participate in human advancements. Our culture is fast-paced, energetic, and growing all of the time.

We offer a variety of benefits beyond traditional medical, dental, retirement, and savings options:

• Events and programs for children, sports camps, tuition options
• World-class intellectual stimulation through learning and development classes, workshops, and onsite conferences from leading-edge speakers and faculty
• Work/life and family-friendly policies and reimbursement
• Participation in Stanford’s social responsibility and sustainable programs for a better world
• A vibrant university culture that values the uniqueness of each individual

We are seeking candidates who are progressive thinkers, see challenges as simple problems to solve, and have the spirit and energy to change the world.

About the Department of Pathology

Comprised of extraordinary faculty and staff, our mission is to improve the ability to diagnose, treat, and understand the origin and manifestation of human disease and to care for those who have or are at risk of developing disease. We accomplish this through our clinical services (in all fields of anatomic and clinical pathology, including molecular and genomic pathology, histocompatibility testing, and transfusion medicine) and research (which includes basic, translational, and clinical research into the origins and manifestations of disease, including efforts to improve disease prediction and prevention as part of the goal of achieving precision medicine and health), and also by educating future leaders in pathology and related fields. Everything we do is to achieve the goals of providing the highest quality of clinical services to the patients for whom we passionately care, to advance our ability to understand, diagnose, monitor, and ultimately to cure disease or to prevent or delay its occurrence, and to provide outstanding education and career development opportunities to those who share these goals.

For more information about the department visit http://pathology.stanford.edu/

About the Lab:

The LSRP will work in the lab of Dr. Theo Roth, MD PhD (Department of Pathology, Arc Institute, and Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy). The lab develops, applies, and translates scalable genetic manipulation technologies in primary human cells and complex in vivo tissue environments (Roth et al, Nature 2018; Roth et al, Cell 2020; Blaeschke et al, Cell 2023). Working with students, trainees, and staff with backgrounds across bioengineering, genetics, immunology, oncology, and pathology, the lab has developed CRISPR-All, a unified genetic perturbation language able to arbitrarily and combinatorially examine genetic perturbations across perturbation type and scale in primary human cells. Ongoing applications of CRISPR-All in the lab have revealed surprising capacities to synthetically engineer human cells beyond evolved cellular states. These new capacities to perturb human cell’s genetics beyond their evolved functionality drives ongoing work to understand the biology and therapeutic potential of synthetic cell state engineering - in essence learning how to build new human genes tailor made for a specific cell and specific environment to drive previously inaccessible therapeutic cellular functions.

About the Position:

We are recruiting a Life Science Research Professional to contribute to new research efforts focused on developing T cell-based cancer therapies. The LSRP’s work involves using synthetic re-writing of human T cell genomes using non-viral gene editing (Roth et al, Nature 2018) in high throughput arrayed and pooled genetic screens (Roth et al, Cell 2020, Blaeschke et al, Cell 2023). Working as part of a multidisciplinary group, the LSRP will design and construct DNA sequences for cellular engineering experiments, isolate and culture primary human immune cells, and perform functional analysis of engineered cells via flow cytometry and cancer co-culture assays. Additional major responsibilities will include next-generation sequencing library production and analysis. For exceptionally skilled applicants, the LSRP’s role can be extended to include the design, completion, and analysis of cellular editing experiments and pooled screens leveraging in vitro and in vivo models. This position represents an excellent opportunity to gain exposure to advanced genetics and genome engineering technologies in a dynamic research environment.

Duties Include:

• Plan approaches to analyze large-scale biological data, including single-cell multi-omic data.
• Independently conduct molecular biology experiments and analyses; maintain detailed records of experiments and outcomes.
• Apply the theories and methods of a life science discipline to interpret and perform analyses of experiment results; help suggest modifications to procedures and protocols in collaboration with a senior researcher.
• Review literature on an ongoing basis to remain current with new procedures and apply learnings to related research.
• Contribute to the publication of findings as needed. Participate in the preparation of written documents, including procedures, presentations, and proposals.
• Assist with orientation and training of new staff or students on experimental protocols and best practices.

* - Other duties may also be assigned