Research Assistant II - Neuroscience

Baylor College of Medicine; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 52,000 - 61,000; Full time

Job summary

Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX seeks Research Assistant II - Neuroscience to support the St-Pierre lab in advancing brain research. The role blends lab management—ordering, inventory, equipment upkeep—with hands-on molecular cloning, cell culture, and fluorescence imaging.

The ideal candidate is highly organized, able to juggle multiple tasks, and capable of thorough documentation and teamwork. Work is onsite, Monday through Friday, with an 8 to 5 schedule; exemption status applies.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a Basic Science or a related field required.
• Three years of relevant experience required.

Responsibilities

• Manage lab inventory, ordering, and stock across locations.
• Prepare and maintain reagents and shared lab infrastructure.
• Culture mammalian cells, perform molecular cloning and plasmid work.
• Acquire images using widefield fluorescence microscopy.
• Plan, direct, and conduct experiments; analyze results and report findings.
• Train less experienced staff and maintain thorough documentation.

Skills

Lab management

Documentation

Teamwork

Organizational skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in a Basic Science or related field

Master's degree in basic science or related field

Job description

Job Title: Research Assistant II - Neuroscience

Work Arrangement: Onsite only

Location: Houston, TX

Salary Range: $52,109 - $61,304

FLSA Status: Exempt

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Summary

The St-Pierre lab develops and applies new tools to monitor and interrogate brain activity. We seek a motivated team member to support both lab-wide productivity and specific projects. This position involves a mixture of lab management (including ordering, managing the inventory, and keeping equipment and infrastructure in optimal condition) and experimental work (molecular cloning, mammalian cell culture, and/of fluorescence imaging). Successful candidates should be exceptionally well organized, enjoy managing several tasks in parallel, and display effective documentation and teamwork skills.

Job Duties

• Receive and process orders.
• Maintain lab inventory (molecular biology supplies, cell culture supplies, plasticware, general lab stock) and rebalance stock across floors as needed.
• Prepare and maintain common reagents.
• Schedule lab group and subgroup meetings, including reserving meeting rooms.
• Maintain shared lab infrastructure (cold room, freezers, water levels in incubators/water baths, autoclaving, biohazard and hazardous waste disposal).
• Operate a liquid handler for automating lab experiments (e.g. transfections).
• Culture mammalian cells, including thawing, passaging, transfecting, and freezing cells.
• Conduct molecular cloning, including assembling new plasmids via In-Fusion assembly and constructing mutagenesis libraries.
• Acquire images by widefield fluorescence microscopy.
• Plans, directs and conducts research experiments.
• Evaluates and analyzes data.
• May conduct literature searches and summarize information in an appropriate format for a particularstudy.
• Documents results of experiments and reports to principal investigators.
• May train and orient less experienced research staff.
• Performs other job related duties as assigned
• Oversees the maintenance of lab equipment and environment.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a Basic Science or a related field.
• Three years of relevant experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in basic science or a related field.
• Molecular cloning and cell culture experience.

Work Authorization Requirement:

This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship.Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States at the time of application and throughout the duration of employment.

Baylor College of Medicine is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/Equal Access Employer.

Baylor College of Medicine fosters diversity among its students, trainees, faculty, and staff as a prerequisite to accomplishing our institutional mission and setting standards for excellence in training healthcare providers and biomedical scientists, promoting scientific innovation, and providing patient-centered care. Baylor College of Medicine is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/Equal Access Employer.