Lab Animal Technician I

University of Louisville; United States; On-site; USD 21,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

University of Louisville is seeking a Lab Animal Technician I in the Comparative Medical Research Unit. This hourly, full-time training position supports husbandry and cagewash operations for humane care of laboratory animals and offers advancement opportunities.

Responsibilities include daily health observations, nutrition and hydration management, safe animal handling, daily cage enrichment, aseptic cage changes, and assisting veterinary staff with medical treatments.

Qualifications

• High school diploma or GED and 1+ year of work experience or equivalent.
• Must pass criminal background check and pre-employment physical.

Responsibilities

• Perform daily health observations on multiple species and report health issues to veterinary staff.
• Provide nutritional requirements and water intake to support research models.
• Handle animals safely and humanely.
• Maintain clean and enriched living environments for animals.
• Change cages using aseptic techniques in rodent housing areas and clean large animal pens.
• Assess cage conditions daily and address study-specific needs.
• Work with animals treated with biohazards/chemical hazards per safety guidelines.
• Meet enrichment requirements and assist veterinary staff with medical treatments.
• Learn rodent colony management and report regulatory issues.
• Use appropriate PPE and sanitize/sterilize cage systems.
• Operate tunnel washers, rack washers, and autoclaves; monitor sanitization/sterilization and respond to equipment failures.
• Maintain automatic watering systems.
• Work weekends and holidays as assigned.

Education

High school diploma or GED

Tools

Autoclaves

Tunnel washers

Rack washers

Cage washing equipment

Job description

Grade 1 (Hourly) Position Description:

Full time.

This Lab Animal Technician I in the Comparative Medical Research Unit at the University of Louisville is a training position for providing husbandry and cagewash operations for the humane care of laboratory animals. This position offers an outstanding career opportunity with the opportunity for advancement.

Minimum Requirements

• High school diploma or GED and one or more years of work experience, or an equivalent combination of education and work experience.
• Must pass criminal background check and pre-employment physical.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Trained to perform daily health observations on a variety of species, be able to recognize health issues, and report accurate descriptions to veterinary staff.
• Trained in providing a variety of nutritional requirements and water intake sources to sustain many different research models. This is vital to growth, reproduction, and maintenance of animal health.
• Trained to provide safe and humane handling of a variety of animal species to ensure the safety of the animal as well as the technician.
• Responsible for providing animals with a clean and enriched living environment on a daily basis.
• Change cages using aseptic techniques in rodent housing areas. Clean large animal pens/cages.
• Cage conditions are assessed daily and may require additional attention due to the research study.
• Trained in working with animals treated with biohazards and/or chemical hazards must be handled according to safety guidelines.
• Meet varying enrichment requirements for all species and special consideration for socialization needs.
• Trained to assist veterinary staff with medical treatments.
• Gain basic knowledge of rodent colony management and report regulatory inconsistencies via the Vivarium Advisory Report.
• Trained to utilize appropriate personal protective equipment.
• Trained to properly assemble and sanitize/sterilize a variety of cage systems.
• Learn basic operations of tunnel washers, rack washers, and autoclaves.
• Trained to perform mechanical wash and sterilization of equipment, validation of sanitization and sterilization is required, identify equipment failure and appropriate response.
• Training on automatic watering system maintenance.
• Work weekends and holidays as assigned.

Compensation will be commensurate to candidate experience.

Equal Employment Opportunity

The University of Louisville is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. The University strives to provide equal employment opportunity on the basis of merit and without unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, sex, age, color, national origin, ethnicity, creed, religion, disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, veteran status, marital status, or pregnancy. In accordance with the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Vietnam Era Veteran Readjustment Act of 1974, the University prohibits job discrimination of individuals with disabilities, Vietnam era veterans, qualified special disabled veterans, recently separated veterans, and other protected veterans. The University acknowledges its obligations to ensure affirmative steps are taken to ensure equal employment opportunities for all employees and applicants for employment. It is the policy of the University that no employee or applicant for employment be subject to unlawful discrimination in terms of recruitment, hiring, promotion, contract, contract renewal, tenure, compensation, benefits, and/or working conditions. No employee or applicant for employment is required to endorse or condemn a specific ideology, political viewpoint, or social viewpoint to be eligible for hiring, contract renewal, tenure, or promotion.

Consistent with applicable law, demographic information is collected for aggregate reporting requirements. Demographic information provided through this application is not available to hiring managers/committees and is not considered in hiring or employment decisions.