Microbiologist III

Microbiologist III

IHRC Inc. seeks a dedicated and experienced Microbiologist to support our clients at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)/Coronavirus and Other Respiratory Viruses Division (CORVD). CORVD's mission is to provide the health of people by preventing illness, disability and death from respiratory viruses through public health science and practice in the United States and globally. This position is needed for accomplishing CORVD's mission.

Provide laboratory diagnostic and molecular surveillance support. Examples activities are:

• Perform molecular assays to detect, type, and characterize respiratory viruses and viral vaccine preventable diseases
• Design, evaluate, and distribute diagnostic platforms for the detection of COVID and other respiratory viruses
• Participate in burden of disease studies and etiology studies of respiratory diseases to investigate the potential association and possible causes of respiratory viruses
• Work within guidelines of auditing bodies such as CMS or CAP
• Contribute to organizational activities that promote laboratory safety, laboratory quality management systems (QMS), and effective specimen management

Provide laboratory immunological and virological support. Example activities are:

• Perform serological surveillance for respiratory viruses and assessment of vaccine response in single plex or multiplex format
• Contribute to the development of new serological assays for surveillance of and evaluation of vaccine response to respiratory viruses
• Perform advanced cellular immunological assessment of the T cell and B cell response to respiratory virus infection and vaccination
• Develop monoclonal antibodies against respiratory viruses for small scale production and assessment in serological assays
• Generate and characterize respiratory virus isolates
• Perform assays to characterize neutralizing antibodies against respiratory viruses
• Draft SOPS, worksheets, job aids, validation plans, and validation reports
• Maintain medical clearance required for working in laboratory that may include respiratory fit testing
• Attend weekly team meetings, and provide information on current activities
• Prepare documentation and laboratories for internal and external audits

Provide laboratory respiratory virus sequencing support. Example activities are:

• Contribute to adaptation of molecular techniques to automated platforms in use in CORVD (e.g., PerkinElmer Zephyr and Tecan Fluent)
• Participate in burden of disease studies and etiology studies of respiratory diseases to investigate the potential association and possible causes of respiratory viruses
• Perform advanced molecular detection and sequencing assays and provide technical support in investigation of unknown etiology of severe cases and outbreaks using pathogen discovery approaches
• Participate in laboratory research that will result in the development and application of advanced molecular techniques and high throughput sequencing analysis to detect and characterize both known and novel emerging viruses

Other activities may include:

• Draft SOPS, worksheets, job aids, validation plans, and validation reports
• Maintain medical clearance required for working in laboratory that may include respiratory fit testing
• Attend weekly team meetings, and provide information on current activities
• Prepare documentation and laboratories for internal and external audits, and maintain laboratory records
• Write abstracts for presentations at national or international conferences
• Present work at national or international conferences
• Contribute to preparation and publication of peer reviewed manuscript

Requirements:

• MS with 10+ years' experience or PhD with 7-10+ years' experience
• Work experience in the scientific field, including microbiologist, research microbiologist, biologist, health scientist or related field (preferably in a public health setting)
• Knowledge and experience of sequencing assays and sequencing platforms
• Ability to identify gaps in existing resources

Desired Requirements:

• Demonstrated experience performing wet and dry laboratory work
• Proficient in sequencing (WGS) and bioinformatics analysis
• Demonstrated experience in bioinformatics pipeline/workflow development
• Proficiency in programming and coding as required for running NGS protocols
• Knowledge of and experience working with clinical data
• Knowledge of and experience working with human specimens
• Expertise in the use of Microsoft Office products
• Ability to be flexible
• Interpersonal communication: telephone, email, and business etiquette
• Strong proofreading skill and attention to detail
• Strong organizational skills
• Experience working with CDC/NCIRD

Language Skills:

• The candidate must possess excellent oral and written communication skills in English

Requirement:

• Must be United States citizen or permanent resident or have authorization for employment in the United States

Salary: Commensurate with qualifications and experience