Nancy Moran's lab at the University of Texas at Austin is seeking a reliable undergraduate research assistant to help with experimental studies of insects and their bacterial symbionts.
Please find the announcements below and direct any questions to kim.hammond@utexas.edu.
In this lab, students will learn a wide range of transferable lab skills and gain first-hand experience in the scientific research process. The student should be in Austin for the majority of the summer for 10-20 hours a week during weekdays between 8am-6pm, and applicants should have 2-3 hour blocks of time available in their schedule. Preference will be given to students of sophomore or junior class standing who can work with the lab for at least a year including the summer, but we often hire students for multiple years. This opportunity is ideal for students interested in postgraduate research in biology.
This project aims to determine how a unique group of bacterial symbionts colonize fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) on a molecular level, and how commensal bacteria may interact with the host innate immune system. This project is molecular and computational in nature and involves methods in microbiology, microscopy, dissection, synthetic biology, genomics, transcriptomics, and bioinformatics. A substantial amount of time will be spent on fly kitchen duties and fly husbandry, including cleaning fly cages and incubators, preparing fly food and flipping flies.
For full consideration please send the following to kim.hammond@utexas.edu:
• resume
• schedule of availability
• name and email contact for at least two references
• brief summary of why you are interested in the position
• relevant courses & total GPA
• lab experience, including specific skills learned
Job duties will primarily involve maintaining fly lines and assisting with microbiology media preparation, including but not limited to transferring and sampling flies, washing cages, preparing fly food, and preparing microbial growth media. There will also be an opportunity for molecular biology (e.g. DNA/RNA extraction, PCR, sequencing) and microscopy experience. Students seeking this position should be highly self-motivated and intellectually curious, with a strong interest in biology and molecular techniques. Experience with sterile technique and attention to details is highly preferred. It is desirable to have experience in working with live animals, basic lab techniques (pipetting, microscopy, PCR), or computation (bash, R, data maintenance and analysis). Otherwise, you may be learning these skills in the course of this work. Applicants need to be meticulous, communicative, well organized, and able to keep up-to-date records. Students in the position will be exposed to bees in the lab spaces, even if they are not working directly with bees.
