Job Description

Department Overview

The Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine is integral to the healthcare, education and research missions at OHSU. We provide clinical services at OHSU hospitals and collaborate with the Veterans Affairs Portland Health Care System (VA), Hillsboro Medical Center and Adventist Health. We specialize in providing excellent perioperative care and anesthesia services to our patients using state-of-the-art technology and pharmacologic tools with an emphasis on patient safety. Our department's research program is robust. We have an active clinical research division. It covers a wide range of areas with a special focus on patient safety and pain management. Our basic science division has labs at both OHSU and the VA. Attending physicians, fellows, residents, and medical students work collaboratively with Ph.D. scientists in our labs to advance human health. This division is focused on neuroscience and renal physiology.

The Senior Research Associate will provide imaging and neurophysiology support as well as rodent surgery and tissue processing for the Anesthesiology Research under the direction of Dr. Andrei Sdrulla for pain-related basic and translational research projects. This is a senior-level position that will involve a variety of electrophysiology, imaging, surgical protocols, and behavioral assays. This position also requires extensive knowledge of rodent pain neurophysiology and pharmacology as well as analysis and presentation of scientific data.

Function/Duties of Position

Imaging and neurophysiology support; tissue processing; rodent surgery

• Perform electrophysiological stimulation, multiphoton acquisition, and image processing using MATLAB and Python packages.
• Process tissue samples for imaging using immunohistochemistry or other fixed tissue techniques.
• Conduct rodent surgery and behavior experiments as needed for experimental objectives.
• Perform stereotaxic brain and spinal cord injections with virus or other agents.
• Develop and maintain electrophysiological, imaging equipment, and behavior equipment.
• Assist in training and coaching students and junior staff.
• Maintain compliance with the regulations and guidelines (e.g., OHSU IACUC, IBC, IRB, NIH, and all other state, federal, and institutional regulatory agencies)
• Build and coordinate research proposals; design and conduct experiments; analyze results of experiments; collaborate with other researchers; assist in planning experimental design and/or design and prepare research standard operating procedures; assume responsibility for specific components of research project.
• Facilitate lab organization, participate in lab meetings, attend research seminars, and journal clubs.
• Demonstrates creativity and problem-solving ability

Required Qualifications

• PhD in relevant field AND 1 year of relevant experience OR
• Master's Degree in relevant field AND 5 years of relevant experience OR
• Bachelor's Degree in relevant field AND 9 years of relevant experience
• Image acquisition in vitro and in vivo, including but not limited to basic light microscopy, and multiphoton microscopy.
• Tissue collection (spinal cord and brain).
• Rodent pain neurophysiology.
• Use of Prism GraphPad and BioRender software.
• Survival spinal cord surgery in mice.
• Administering pharmacological agents to mice.
• Behavior assays, including pain behavior assays.
• Ability to perform the job duties with or without accommodation.

Preferred Qualifications

• 15+ years of Rodent surgery, including using pain models.

Additional Details

The employee hired for this position will need to be able to be flexible with work schedule. Potential environmental exposures to human/animal tissues and/or fluids and radiation.

Why apply to OHSU?

We are Oregon's only public academic health center. In addition to caring for patients, we lead groundbreaking research. We also train the next generation of health care professionals. As Portland's largest employer, we give you opportunities to learn and advance in a system of hospitals and clinics across Oregon and Southwest Washington. All are welcome. OHSU welcomes people of all ages, ethnicities, genders, national origins, religions and sexual orientations. We are striving to build an anti-racist, multicultural institution and encourage people with diverse backgrounds to apply. To request reasonable accommodation, contact askhr@ohsu.edu