Research Assistant I- iPSC & Neuromuscular Disease Research

Boston Children's Hospital; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 48,000 - 62,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible schedules

Health insurance

Vision and dental insurance

Student loan subsidies

Retirement plan

Job summary

Boston Children’s Hospital is seeking a Laboratory Research Assistant I to support cutting-edge neuromuscular disease research in Dr. Engle’s lab at Harvard Medical School. The role involves iPSC culture, differentiation to spinal cord organoids and skeletal muscle progenitors, and NMJ culture maintenance with drug screening experiments.

The successful candidate will work under Dr. Kuchuan Chen, with occasional evenings/weekends for cell culture.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in STEM or Psychology is required.
• Preference for Biology, Neuroscience, Molecular Biology, or related field.
• Experience with human iPSC culture or differentiation is preferred.
• Hands-on sterile cell culture techniques and wet bench skills.

Responsibilities

• Culture and maintain human iPSCs with quality control.
• Differentiate iPSCs into organoids and progenitors.
• Establish NMJ cultures and assembloids for screens.
• Perform NMJ drug screens and validate hits.
• Conduct microscopy and live-cell imaging (fluorescence/confocal).
• RNA purification, cDNA prep, and qPCR analyses.
• Dissociate cells, perform FACS, and prepare samples for single-cell profiling.
• Assist with mouse work including genotyping and tissue collection.
• Prepare media/reagents and maintain lab equipment.
• Record experiments meticulously in lab notebooks and databases.

Skills

iPSC culture

neural differentiation

organoid culture

microscopy

live-cell imaging

RNA purification

qPCR

FACS/flow cytometry

Education

Bachelor's degree in STEM or Psychology

Biology/Neuroscience/Molecular Biology/Bioengineering focus preferred

Tools

Immunostaining

Cryosectioning

Confocal microscopy

Job description

Position Summary/ Department Summary

We offer an opportunity to support cutting-edge neuromuscular disease research in the laboratory of Dr. Elizabeth Engle at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School (http://kirbyneuro.org/EngleLab/). Our work uses human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), spinal cord organoids, skeletal muscle, and functional neuromuscular junction (NMJ) models to study spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and therapeutic strategies that restore motor neuron-muscle connectivity. This position is ideal for a self-motivated and detail-oriented individual interested in developing a broad skill set in stem cell culture, organoid differentiation, microscopy, functional imaging, molecular biology, single-cell profiling, and drug screening. The successful candidate will join the Eagles Lab as a Laboratory Research Assistant I, working under the supervision of Dr. Kuchuan Chen. Evenings and weekend hours will occasionally be required for cell culture experiments.

This position is looking for someone to start ASAP.

Key Responsibilities

• Human iPSC culture, expansion, cryopreservation, and routine quality control
• Differentiation of iPSCs into spinal cord organoids and skeletal myogenic progenitors
• Establishment and maintenance of human neuromuscular junction (NMJ) cultures and assembloids
• Preparation and execution of functional NMJ drug screens and hit-validation experiments
• Microscopy and live-cell functional imaging (i.e. fluorescence, confocal, GCaMP calcium imaging)
• Cryosectioning, immunofluorescence staining, and quantitative image analysis
• RNA purification, cDNA preparation, and quantitative PCR (qPCR)
• Cell/nuclei dissociation, fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS), and sample preparation for single-cell/single-nucleus profiling
• Basic mouse work, including genotyping, tissue collection, and tissue processing
• Preparation of media and reagents, maintenance of research equipment, and other routine lab tasks
• Maintaining detailed records of experiments, cell lines, and analyses in lab notebooks and databases
• Participation in weekly group meetings (including presenting research progress at lab meetings)

Education

• A bachelor's degree in STEM or Psychology is required for the role.
• Preference for a degree in Biology, Neuroscience, Molecular Biology, Bioengineering, or a related field.

Experience

• Experience with human iPSC/stem cell culture, neuron or muscle differentiation, or organoid culture
• Familiarity with motor neuron, skeletal muscle, or other mammalian cell culture systems
• Familiarity with immunostaining, cryosectioning, fluorescence/confocal microscopy, or live-cell imaging
• Experience with qPCR/RNA purification, FACS/flow cytometry, high-throughput assays, or mouse models are pluses, but not required
• Hands-on experience in sterile cell culture techniques, basic wet bench skills, and operating standard lab equipment
• Ability to maintain and manage complex cell-culture workflows, including careful, reproducible aseptic technique and pipetting

The posted pay range is Boston Children's reasonable and good-faith expectation for this pay at the time of posting.

Any base pay offer provided depends on skills, experience, education, certifications, and a variety of other job-related factors. Base pay is one part of a comprehensive benefits package that includes flexible schedules, affordable health, vision and dental insurance, child care and student loan subsidies, generous levels of time off, 403(b) Retirement Savings plan, Pension, Tuition and certain License and Certification Reimbursement, employee discounts and discounted commuter benefits at certain locations.

Experience the benefits of passion and teamwork.