Job Description

The Senior Research Associate will contribute and help drive ongoing research programs in the Department of Integrative Genomics and Epidemiology at Meharry Medical College. This role requires substantial expertise in molecular biology, viral vector systems, and in vivo model development. The Senior Research Associate will also be responsible for training and mentoring junior researchers including students and research staff, in experimental techniques.
In the animal model (Nile rat), the Senior Research Associate will oversee the development of a longitudinal biobank of tissues and biofluids designed to support future mechanistic studies, including analyses of gene expression across defined durations of diabetes progression. The Senior Research Associate conduct comprehensive in vivo metabolic phenotyping, including oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT), insulin tolerance tests (ITT), and pyruvate tolerance tests (PTT), to functionally characterize disease onset and progression under defined genetic and environmental conditions.
Additionally, the Senior Research Associate will establish and characterize primary cell cultures derived from Nile rat alongside human primary cell lines to enable mechanistic dissection of candidate gene function. The role includes executing advanced gene manipulation strategies across these systems, including transfection, viral transduction (lentiviral method), and targeted integration approaches to generate stable or genetically modified cell lines.
To interrogate gene regulatory pathways and cellular phenotypes relevant to metabolic disease, the Associate will apply several molecular and cellular techniques including molecular cloning, DNA vector construction, reporter gene assays, Western blotting, co-immunoprecipitation, qPCR, flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, and microscopy.

Essential Functions (Principal Duties and Job Responsibilities):

• Conduct molecular biology experiments
• Liaise with PI and junior researchers on projects outline by the PI
• Contribute to publications, and assist with training new students and junior researchers
• Maintain accurate records of experiments and data in lab notebooks and electronic databases
• Manage lab inventory and order reagents, chemicals, and consumables as needed

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required:

• Extensive experience working with rodent models, including tissue collection, processing, and downstream molecular and cellular analyses.
• Solid foundation in human and primary cell systems, including isolation, culture, genetic manipulation, generation of stable and/or modified cell lines.
• Strong ability to independently design, optimize, and troubleshoot experimental workflows such as lentiviral overexpression of genes, immunohistochemistry, confocal imaging.
• Proficient in quantitative data analysis and interpretation, including biostatistics and image analysis tools (e.g. GraphPad Prism, ImageJ).

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities Preferred:

• Familiarity with transcriptomics (RNA seq analysis) and high-throughput sequencing.
• Generation of stably transfected cell lines.
• Generation of immortalized cell lines.

Education and Experience Required:

• Master’s or PhD degree in molecular biology, immunology, genetics, biochemistry, or a closely related biomedical field.
• Expertise in molecular and cellular approaches to gene regulation, including vector design, transduction systems, and functional characterization of engineered cell models.

Education and Experience Preferred:

• Several years of hands-on research experience in an academic or biomedical research setting, including independent experimental execution.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Meharry Medical College complies with Title IX and is an affirmative action employer. Candidates will be considered for employment without discrimination for an non-merit reason such as race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, handicap or veteran status.