Senior Research Fellow

IIT Madras; Chennai District; On-site; INR 427,000 - 511,000; Full time

Job summary

IIT Madras is seeking a hands-on research role focused on spinal cord injury models. The candidate will perform animal handling, surgeries, behavioral assessments, and cell culture using primary spinal neurons and glial cells under sterile conditions.

Preferred are a Master’s degree and at least 2 years of post-Master’s research experience; the position offers Rs. 42,000 per month and opportunities to work with advanced imaging and molecular biology techniques.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with small laboratory animals and surgical procedures in SCI models.
• Experience with behavioral scoring and functional assessments.
• Isolation and culture of primary cells from nervous system tissues.
• Sterile neuronal/glial cell culture and neurite outgrowth assays.
• Spinal cord tissue histology, sectioning and imaging.
• Basic molecular biology techniques (PCR/RT-PCR, Western, ELISA).
• Confocal/fluorescence microscopy and image analysis.

Responsibilities

• Carry out animal handling and surgical procedures on rodents for SCI models.
• Perform behavioral assessments and data interpretation.
• Isolate and culture primary neural cells and perform viability checks.
• Maintain sterile neuronal cultures and conduct neurite/neuronal assays.
• Process spinal cord tissue for histology and imaging.
• Apply molecular biology techniques and analyze results.
• Operate confocal microscopes and analyze images with ImageJ.

Skills

Animal handling

Surgical procedures

Behavioral assessment

Primary cell isolation

Neuronal cell culture

Histology

Molecular biology techniques

Confocal/fluorescence microscopy

Image analysis (ImageJ)

Education

Master's degree (M.Sc./M.Tech./M.E./M.V.Sc. or equivalent) in Biomedical/ Life Sciences or related field

Tools

ImageJ

Job description

Role & Responsibilities:

Candidates must have hands-on, demonstrable experience at least some of the following:

• Animal handling of small laboratory animals (rodents), Animal surgery including survival and non-survival surgical procedures on rodents relevant to spinal cord injury models (e.g., laminectomy, contusion/compression/transection SCI models, and associated post-operative animal care)


• Behavioral assessment post-SCI. e.g., BBB locomotor scoring, gait analysis, or other functional recovery assessments


• Primary cell isolation isolation and culture of primary cells, preferably Dorsal Root Ganglion (DRG) neurons and/or spinal cord tissue-derived cells


• Neuronal cell culture and maintenance culturing and maintaining primary neurons (and/or glial cells) under sterile conditions, including neurite outgrowth/regeneration assays where applicable


• Histology spinal cord tissue processing, sectioning (cryostat/microtome), staining (e.g., H&E, Nissl), and imaging


• General molecular biology techniques e.g., PCR/RT-PCR, western blotting, ELISA


• Experience with confocal/fluorescence microscopy and image analysis software (e.g., ImageJ)

Preferred candidate profile

• A Master's degree (M.Sc./M.Tech./M.E./M.V.Sc. or equivalent) in a relevant discipline (Biomedical Engineering, Life Sciences, Biotechnology, Biochemistry, Microbiology, etc., ), generally with first class or minimum 80% marks.


• At least 2 years of research experience after the Master's degree


• Rs. 42,000/- per month