City: Nashville, TN, US
Employer Reference: 10006409
Company Description
Company Description
At Vanderbilt University , our work - regardless of title or role - is in service to an important and noble mission in which every member of our community serves in advancing knowledge and transforming lives on a daily basis. Located in Nashville, Tennessee, on a 330+ acre campus and arboretum dating back to 1873, Vanderbilt is proud to have been named as one of “America’s Best Large Employers” as well as a top employer in Tennessee and the Nashville metropolitan area by Forbes for several years running. We welcome those who are interested in learning and growing professionally with an employer that strives to create, foster and sustain opportunities as an employer of choice
We understand you have a choice when choosing where to work and pursue a career. We understand you are unique and have a story. We want to hear it. We encourage you to apply today so that you might become a part of our story.
Please note, all candidates selected for an offer of employment are subject to pre-employment background checks, which may include but are not limited to, based on the role for which they have been selected: criminal history, education verification, social media review, motor vehicle records, credit history, and professional license verification.
Job Description
The research technician will work in Dr. Stephanie Wankowicz’s lab (wankowiczlab.com) within the Molecular Physiology and Biophysics department, Center for AI for Protein Dynamics, and Center for Structural Biology at Vanderbilt University. This position requires knowledge of basic laboratory procedures and experience in cloning, protein expression, and protein purification. The research technician will support ongoing research into protein structure, dynamics, and function. Additional responsibilities include laboratory maintenance.
The Wankowicz lab (wankowiczlab.com) aims to elucidate the role of entropy in substrate specificity and catalysis, striving to provide a comprehensive thermodynamic understanding of enzyme function. The lab develops innovative computational structural modeling methods combined with biophysical measurements and machine learning to explore how proteins utilize entropy for binding. This position focuses on the wet lab aspects, employing X-ray crystallography and cryo-EM alongside biophysical techniques like surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) to study how different genetic variants or ligands impact protein dynamics and binding thermodynamics.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Manage, order, and maintain key lab reagents and equipment
- Perform cloning and assembly of recombinant proteins
- Execute expression and purification of recombinant proteins
- Opportunity to learn structural biology or biophysical techniques
- Opportunity to conduct independent research projects
Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in a related field (biology, chemistry, physics, or related field) is necessary.
Experience and Skills:
- Experience in molecular biology and protein expression is strongly preferred
- Experience in structural biology is preferred