Associate Scientist – Lab Startup & Host-Pathogen Research

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital; Memphis (TN); On-site; USD 66,000 - 114,000; Full time

Job summary

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN seeks an Associate Scientist to lead the scientific and operational wet-lab program for a new laboratory.

The role shapes its direction, culture, and infrastructure, focusing on host-pathogen interactions during Shigella infection, using microbiology, in vivo and organoid-immune co-culture models. Candidates bring 7+ years of research experience (or 5+ with a Master’s, 2+ with a PhD) and a track record of leading experiments, coordinating

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant scientific area.
• 7+ years of research experience; 5+ years with a Master’s; 2+ years with a PhD.
• Experience leading and supporting research experiments.
• Experience leading lab and scientific project coordination, maintenance, and other research support activities.
• Experience with BSL-2 laboratory operations and biosafety practices.

Responsibilities

• Lead and oversee the laboratory's cell culture and bacterial operations.
• Maintain mammalian cell lines and primary cultures, including intestinal organoids.
• Develop stable and CRISPR-engineered cell lines.
• Validate and maintain bacterial stocks and generate bacterial knockout and reporter strains.
• Perform molecular biology and biochemical techniques including cloning, conjugation, transformation.
• Conjugation and transformation can be included under molecular biology techniques.
• Conduct fluorescence and confocal microscopy experiments.
• Conduct in vitro and in vivo infection experiments.
• Analyze data and maintain high-quality research documentation.
• Contribute to manuscripts, grant applications, and presentations at lab meetings, institutional seminars, and scientific conferences.
• Lead the setup of the new laboratory, including equipment procurement, installation, and commissioning.
• Manage inventories, consumables, reagent stocks, and laboratory resources.
• Oversee service contracts and equipment maintenance activities.
• Ensure compliance with BSL-2 operations and institutional safety requirements, including SOPs, biosafety documentation, EH&S compliance, and training records.
• Manage SOP development, biosafety documentation, EH&S compliance, and training records.
• Maintain laboratory electronic notebooks, protocol repositories, and data management systems.
• Train, onboard, and mentor laboratory personnel in experimental procedures and best practices.
• Provide supervision and scientific guidance to junior staff and trainees as the laboratory grows.

Skills

Cell culture

Bacterial operations

CRISPR engineering

Data analysis

Education

Bachelor’s degree in a relevant scientific area

Tools

Western blotting

Immunoprecipitations

Job description

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN seeks an Associate Scientist to lead the scientific and operational wet-lab program for a new laboratory.

The role shapes its direction, culture, and infrastructure, focusing on host-pathogen interactions during Shigella infection, using microbiology, in vivo and organoid-immune co-culture models. Candidates bring 7+ years of research experience (or 5+ with a Master’s, 2+ with a PhD) and a track record of leading experiments, coordinating