Student Biobank Assistant – Molecular Biodiversity Program

The Canadian Museum Of Nature; Outaouais; Hybrid; CAD 23,000 - 29,000; Full time

Job summary

The Canadian Museum of Nature is offering a full-time student placement in the Molecular Biodiversity Program, focused on NBCC and MBL activities. The role emphasizes hands-on work with cryogenic storage, DNA extraction, sequencing, and data management within a leading national biodiversity collection facility. Applicants must be enrolled in a STEM program, return to full-time studies in Fall 2027, and identify as female.

The position runs weekdays, with a 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Qualifications

• Enrolled in a university undergraduate or college STEM program in biology, biotechnology or a related field.
• Must be registered to return to full-time studies for Fall 2027.
• Self-declare as female/woman and complete self-identification during apply.
• Ability to speak and write in English or French is essential.
• Computer fluency and experience with Microsoft Excel.
• Ability to read specimen labels and apply information to tasks.
• Fine motor dexterity for handling collection objects.
• Attention to detail and organizational skills.
• Ability to listen, follow procedures, and ask questions as needed.
• Self-motivation in both team and independent work settings.

Responsibilities

• Process samples for archiving into the NBCC’s cryogenic freezers.
• Transcribe collection data into digital spreadsheets and prepare datasets for KE Emu uploads.
• Assist with NBCC tasks including vial labelling, freezer monitoring, and tidying.
• Support MBL tasks to generate DNA sequence data for biodiversity projects, including DNA extraction, PCR, and sequencing.

Skills

Computer fluency

Microsoft Excel

Education

Enrolled in a university undergraduate or college STEM program

Registered to return to full-time studies Fall 2027

Job description

Selection process number: 2090-CMN-26-OC-055
16 weeks, January to April, 2027
37.5 hours per week
1 position

Work Location

Canada Museum of Nature, 1740 Pink Road, Gatineau

Selection process number: 2090-CMN-26-OC-055

The natural history collections at the Canadian Museum of Nature (CMN) comprise millions of plant and animal specimens emphasizing Canadian wild species. This includes many historical and significant specimens from all provinces and territories. The Museum serves the research and education needs of a broad community by building, preserving, upgrading, and facilitating access to the collection, providing staff with exciting opportunities to play a role in current natural history research and collection management.

The CMN has received funding from the Leacross Foundation to provide one student in STEM who identifies as female an opportunity to obtain high-quality professional experience in natural history collections management and collection-based research. As part of the Museum’s scientific training program, this student will advance specific projects while working alongside colleagues, at all career stages, who are engaged in diverse nature research and who help build, preserve and share natural science collections. This placement offers great potential to fuel curiosity and to provide insights into biodiversity-related careers. It also presents unique chances to experience a multi-faceted national museum ‘from the inside’, and to interact with its broader community of partners and guests. Under the supervision of experienced CMN staff, the successful candidate will acquire knowledge and skills transferable to many other natural history projects.

The National Biodiversity Cryobank of Canada (NBCC) at the CMN is a repository of genomic resources (e.g., tissue and DNA samples) for biodiversity research. The state-of-the-art facility, with a current capacity of 200,000 samples, provides sample storage environments below -160 degrees Celsius. The NBCC’s mandate is to collect and curate genomic resources—from across Canada and abroad for biodiversity research.

In the Molecular Biodiversity Laboratory (MBL), CMN staff extract DNA from tissue samples, amplify genes of interest, and sequence these genes via automated capillary electrophoresis. These sequence data are generated to study phylogenetics, to help in species identification, and to contribute morphologically validated DNA barcodes to the Barcode of Life Data System.

The CMN requires a student to undertake tasks in the NBCC and MBL to support various biodiversity projects.

The student in this role will:

• Processing samples for archiving into the NBCC’s cryogenic freezers. This may include the following tasks:
  • Subsampling various tissues into labelled cryovials.
  • Re-labelling donated vials with barcoded vial labels.
  • Rehousing plant tissue samples into barcoded envelopes.
  • Rehousing donated DNA samples into barcoded vials.
• Performing specimen data management duties including transcribing collection data into digital spreadsheets and preparing digital datasets for upload into KE Emu, the CMN’s digital database system.
• Helping with routine tasks in the NBCC including vial labelling, freezer monitoring, and tidying.
• Performing tasks in the MBL to generate DNA sequence data to support various projects, possibly including those with a focus on lichen, beetle, vascular plant, bird, and seaweed biodiversity. Tasks may include:
  • Extracting DNA from tissue samples.
  • Amplifying target genes via polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and DNA sequencing reactions.
  • Helping with routine MBL tasks including preparing reagent aliquots, filling pipette tip boxes, and tidying.

Your place at the Museum

We value diversity and believe we benefit from working in a place where everyone feels included and where the unique qualities and strengths inherent in a diverse workforce are combined. We welcome applications from persons who may identify as a member of one or more other equity seeking groups (for e.g. visible minorities, disabled, 2SLGBTQIA+, religious or cultural minority).

You have a place at the Museum!

Don’t forget to self-declare

This recruitment process is open only to female/women students. It is therefore important that you identify yourself as a woman in your cover letter and in the “Self-Declaration for Employment Equity Groups Members” section when applying for this recruitment process via our career page, as mentioned below, so that your application can be considered.

In addition, if your application is successful, you will be asked to complete the self-identification form during this recruitment process in order to be eligible for a job offer.

QUALIFICATIONS:

The candidates must meet the following basic requirements:

• Enrolled in a university undergraduate or college STEM program in biology, biotechnology or a related field.
• The candidate must be registered to return to their full-time studies for the Fall 2027 semester;
• Self-declare as a female/woman AND complete the Self-Identification section when applying;
• Ability to speak and write in English or French is essential.
• Computer fluency and experience with Microsoft Excel;
• Ability to read and comprehend information on specimen labels, and apply it to basic tasks;
• Ability to apply fine motor skills and manual dexterity when handling, inspecting, documenting and transporting collection objects;
• Ability to exercise focused attention to detail to maintain high standards for accuracy and organization in all tasks;
• Ability to listen effectively, respect established procedures and standards, and faithfully follow instructions;
• Ability to communicate effectively in order to ask, as needed, questions about the methods needed to complete assigned tasks and to answer questions about the progress of assigned work;
• Ability to maintain self-motivation in a variety of team and independent task scenarios.

The following are considered assets:

• Experience with biobanking techniques.
• Experience with molecular biology techniques including DNA extraction and polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
• Experience with biodiversity collection databasing.
• A basic understanding of taxonomic classification and naming conventions for biological species.

Please note that this is a full-time position, during weekday hours only.

SALARY: Rates of pay are determined at the initial appointment or reappointment stage and are based on the incumbent’s current academic level as per the museum’s terms and conditions of employment for students . The official working period is from Monday to Friday between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.

NOTE: Canadian citizenship is not required, however individuals must be legally entitled to work in Canada. The Canadian Museum of Nature is committed to developing inclusive, barrier-free selection processes and work environments. If contacted in relation to a job opportunity or testing, please advise the Human Resources Advisor in a timely fashion of the accommodation measures which must be taken to enable you to be assessed in a fair and equitable manner. Information received relating to accommodation measures will be addressed confidentially.

For more information regarding the position, please contact: Roger Bull, Head of Operations, Molecular Biodiversity Program ([e-mail])