Microbiologist III

JOB TITLE: Microbiologist III

POSITION NUMBER: 2528-80002-MIII-01

POSITION LOCATION: Baton Rouge, LA, USA

ANTICIPATED START DATE: Two weeks after candidate selection

TRAVEL: As required to fulfill the responsibilities of the position

IHRC, Inc. provides scientific, information management, management consulting, bioinformatics, and administrative program support to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other Federal and private sector clients. The successful candidate will be a full-time employee of IHRC, Inc., and will be assigned to the Laboratory Research Branch (LRB), National Hansen’s Disease Program (NHDP), Healthcare Systems Bureau (HSB), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), 1909 Skip Bertman Drive, Baton Rouge, Louisiana to provide support for the development and enhancement of the understanding of leprosy complex bacteria (Mycobacterium leprae [M. leprae] and M. lepromatosis).

SCOPE OF WORK

The Microbiologist III will provide research services to enhance the understanding of infection caused by Mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae) and Mycobacterium lepromatosis (M. lepromatosis).

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• The Microbiologist III shall perform the following tasks:
• Design and develop molecular assays to determine viability of leprosy complex bacteria from infected animal tissues. Applications shall include evaluation of fixation protocols (e.g., Ethanol, formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded), purification of nucleic acids, quantitation of bacterial numbers, and expression of relevant genes.
• Perform various molecular assays on clinical biopsy samples from leprosy patients across the leprosy spectrum.
• Applications shall include refinement of established protocols to obtain optimum performance with human tissue samples.
• Design and perform experiments evaluating new anti-leprosy drugs and drug regimens utilizing the mouse footpad model of leprosy complex bacterial infection.
• Formulate complex hypotheses regarding the relationship of the host immune response with leprosy complex bacteria viability and the expression of bacterial or host genes in in-vitro culture and from infected tissues by using techniques like real-time PCR, whole genome sequencing and RNASeq.
• Design new primer/probe sets and assess their suitability for use as improved expression markers for detecting viable leprosy complex bacteria in clinical and experimental samples.
• Document all experimental procedures. Compile and analyze all experimental data.
• Synthesize information suitable for critical review and publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
• Maintain and submit written documentation/work products in the following formats:

Word document: Reports and manuscripts for publication.

Excel: Spreadsheets and Tables of experimental data.

PowerPoint: Presentations for review of progress.

Statistical Analysis Software (SAS): statistical analysis of data.

Handwritten: Daily progress entries into laboratory notebook.

Submit Monthly and Quarterly progress reports as follows:

1. Monthly Reports: Provide a summary of the work completed during the month and shall include experiments performed, data collected, and interpretation of the data.
2. Quarterly Reports: Provide a written report of the tasks completed during the quarter and present the data for discussion and planning of future directions.