Research Technician I Injury Prevention Research

**The Laboratory of Tissue Repair and Regeneration (LTRR) at the Keenan Research Centre of St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health is studying the role of so-called myofibroblasts in tissue remodeling after injury and in disease. Activation of myofibroblasts is critical to repair damaged tissues, but dysregulation leads to excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix in fibrosis. Our research aims to decipher the mechanisms controlling myofibroblast formation to discover novel therapeutic targets to treat organ fibrosis and support normal tissue repair.**

**The LTRR is currently looking for a Research Technician I. This position provides organization and administrative support to research projects. Tasks will include collecting and recording data, limited processing of data, basic laboratory procedures, keeping lab maintenance and inventory, labeling and shipping samples and study related material. The research assistant will work closely together with a Senior Research Assistant in the laboratory. Irrespective of their background the incumbent will receive basic training/refreshing in all fundamental lab procedures and training on specialized equipment as needed.**

**Duties & Responsibilities**:

- Performing research projects under guidance of the principal investigator and Senior research associate.
- Autonomously performing well-defined, routine, or repetitive tests, experiments, or other procedures.
- Supporting projects of research staff and trainees with experimental procedures.
- Contributing to collaborations with academic and industry partners.
- Producing, understanding, interpreting, processing, and presentation of data, internally and at conferences.
- Producing and working with different polymer materials to generate cell culture surfaces.
- Preparing lab common media, solutions, and reagents related to research projects.
- Performing cell isolations from small animals (mice, rats) and animal surgeries.
- Monitoring of mouse colonies and communicating with the animal house staff.
- Contribute to organizing and maintaining lab function and cleanliness (e.g., filling of liquid nitrogen tanks, defrosting of freezers, basic calibrations of microscopes and pipettes, weekly lab coat exchanges).
- Cleaning, drying, and sterilizing lab equipment and cell culture incubators.
- Keeping track of consumables, support with ordering supplies and maintaining the lab inventory.
- Writing protocols and procedures and keeping the lab¿s protocol database up to date.
- Performing occasional office duties e.g., filing and upkeep of biosafety datasheets.
- Receiving and preparing material and custom documents for shipping by mail services (e.g., FedEx).
- Collecting information to produce a monthly lab newsletter.
- Scheduling meetings and booking of meeting rooms.
- Monitoring and updating of logs, e.g., ¿80°C freezer logs, sample storage logs, etc.

**Qualifications**:

- Graduate of community college with relevant basic laboratory experience OR demonstrable equivalent combination of specialized education and experience.
- Master's degree OR demonstrable equivalent combination of specialized education and experience.
- Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
- Excellent attention to detail and proven ability to learn new skills.
- Excellent manual dexterity, high-precision pipetting skills.
- Ability to perform sterile cell culture procedures over several weeks of culture.
- Ability to interpret experimental outcomes and troubleshoot technical issues.
- Ability to calculate and prepare buffer compositions and solution concentrations.
- Demonstrate knowledge of scientific terminology in LTRR research topics.
- Excellent communication (verbal/written) and interpersonal skills.
- Ability to keep written records electronically.
- Basic computer skills, particularly database, spreadsheet, presentation, and word processing.

**_
Beneficial:_***
- Knowledge in managing electronic inventory and lab book systems Quartzy and Benchling.
- Understanding how antibodies work in immunohistochemistry, Western blot, and flow cytometry.
- Practical skills in immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence sample processing.
- Ability to handle and understand transmission, epifluorescence, and confocal light microscopy.
- Cell culture experience with primary and lineage cells, fibroblasts, monocytes, macrophages. Knowledge and practical skills in protein extraction, Western blotting, and flow cytometry.