Laboratory Technician - Stem Cell Diabetes Laboratory

This competition is open to all applicants however internal candidates and applicants who were former employees of the University of Alberta in the past 18 months will be given priority consideration before external candidates. Please indicate your internal status using the "Advertisement" drop down menu when applying.

This position has an expected end date of one year from the date of hire with the possibility of extension. 

The Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry is looking for a Laboratory Technician in Beta-cell Regeneration Research in the Shapiro - Stem Cell Diabetes lab.

This position requires the ability to accommodate flexible hours and irregular schedules based on experimental requirements.

Diabetes is a global health problem with a huge economic burden. Cell therapies, such as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) could provide a replenishable source of beta cells. Optimized methods and scale-up strategies for human stem cell-derived beta cells could potentially translate this into clinical therapy.

Progressive deterioration of pancreatic beta cells is a hallmark of both type-1 and -2 diabetes. Stem cell therapy shows great promise and has a clear proof of concept to reverse diabetes, but with a limitation of production of sufficient tissue mass for transplant. More advanced methods could lead to scale-up and mass production of reliable stem cell-derived beta cells without off-target cells. The candidate for this position will use 3D-suspension culture methods to optimize beta-cell differentiation protocols and deliver scale-up of these endocrine cells.

RESPONSIBILITIES/ACTIVITIES

• Major Activity: Routine cell culture: maintenance and differentiation of ESC/iPS cell cultures into pancreatic lineage cells: 60% (including data analysis).
• Major Activity: General lab duties such as maintenance of lab equipment, purchasing, inventory control, cleaning, preparing solutions, data collection and documentation: 30-40%.
• Minor Activity: Basic cell biology techniques such as DNA/RNA purification, Q-PCR gene expression, Immunochemistry, protein analysis, Flow cytometry, and Immunoassay (ELISA) (including data analysis): 5-10%. 
• Minor Activity:  Working with mice. Time spent: <5%.

Qualifications

• A BSc degree in a
Bioscience related field or a related discipline.
• Computer proficiency with MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and Google Workspace.
• Strong communication skills in English, both written and verbal.

COVID-19 Vaccination: Proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 in compliance with the University’s COVID-19 Vaccination Directive. Fully Vaccinated means a status an individual achieves 14 days after having received the recommended number of doses of a COVID-19 vaccine approved by Health Canada or the World Health Organization, and requires the individual to maintain the recommended number and type of vaccine doses as updated and required by Health Canada thereafter. 

Note: Online applications are accepted until midnight Mountain Standard Time of the closing date.

We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only those individuals selected for an interview will be contacted.