Lab Operations Manager - Center for Protein Design

Overview

The Center for Protein Design at St. Jude seeks a proactive and organized lab manager with strong communication skills to build and maintain lab operations ensuring they run smoothly while fostering an inclusive supportive and welcoming environment for all Center members.

Attributes of successful candidates:

• A proactive fast learner who can operate independently and possesses strong communication skills.
• A leader with a contagious cando attitude.
• Excellent organization skills and a collaborative attitude.
• Strong biochemistry technique with experience performing recombinant protein production low and highthroughput enzyme assays proteinprotein binding measurements and standard molecular cloning procedures (or equivalent).
• Experience with cellfree expression deep sequencing (NGS) FACS liquid handling (Biomek or equivalent) and lab automation is a plus.

Responsibilities:

Scientific Operations 70:

• Work to build up lab operations for the Center for Protein Design through assisting with equipment purchase installation and maintenance and hiring processes related to lab operations.
• Develop and establish strategies and processes to streamline lab organization inventory and ordering while developing and maintaining standard lab operation protocols and procedures.
• Maintain and operate the Center for Protein Design lab equipment
• The lab manager may be asked to mentor technicians and junior scientists.

Scientific Research 30:

• Lead new research directions in in vitro and in vivo assays for protein design.
• Record experimental observations present results and collaborate with multiple computational and experimental scientists in the Center for Protein Design.

Opportunities for Professional Growth

• You will have the opportunity to help build the lab for the Center of Protein Design as well as develop and optimize lab workflows and define exacting lab standards.
• As an integral and critical member of the Center for Protein Design at St. Jude you will also be able to participate in internal meetings and interact with other groups and faculty at St. Jude to advance applications of protein design. You will be working alongside internationally recognized scientists who are leaders in such disciplines as AI/machine learning (Dr. M Madan Babu) NMR (Dr. Charalampos Kalodimos) cryoEM/ET (Dr. Elizabeth Kellogg and Dr. Georgios Skiniotis) singlemolecule experiments (Dr. Scott Blanchard) and more.
• You will also collaborate with the broader community at St. Jude (such as the Departments of Immunology HostMicrobe Interactions Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Chemical Biology and Therapeutics) which is full of very smart helpful and fun individuals with unique and diverse scientific strengths.
• The candidate will be given opportunities to develop new skills including but not limited to machine learning AI and translational aspects of protein design.
• The candidate will be given opportunities to participate in interdisciplinary scientific research and be mentored in developing leadership skills.
• You will have opportunities to attend scientific conferences surrounding the fields of protein design and biochemistry techniques.

About the Center for Protein Design

The Center for Protein Design is a new institutional center established in November 2024 and housed in the Center of Excellence for DataDriven Discovery within the Structural Biology department at St Jude. The Center is led by Dr. Alexandre Zanghellini Executive Fellow at St. Jude. Dr. Zanghellini has 20 years of experience in protein design; his seminal contributions to the field of enzyme design were cited more than 3000 times.

The Center for Protein Designs mission is to advance our understanding of protein structurefunction relationships to design proteins and cell therapies that restore hope against catastrophic pediatric diseases. We use cuttingedge deeplearning biophysics and experimental approaches to develop new functional proteins for protein and cell therapies including enzyme therapeutics gene editing systems and CART cell engineering. The Center is also pushing the boundary in new methodology development in computational protein design leveraging the large amount of data generated by various groups and departments at St. Jude.

As an institutional center the Center for Protein Design collaborates across many departments at St. Jude such as Structural Biology Immunology HostMicrobe Interactions and Pharmacology. The Center for Protein Design is a highly interdisciplinary environment that marries basic science with a strong translational component leveraging St. Jude Research Hospital cGMP manufacturing and clinical expertise.

About St Jude

St Jude Childrens Research Hospital is consistently named as one of Fortune magazines Best Companies to Work for and top 10 Best Places to Work in Academia by the Scientist Magazine. St Jude is located in Memphis Tennessee the 28th most populous city in America. Memphis is a historic city with an affordable cost of living along with world class dining and strong cultural tradition in music and theater. Memphis enjoys a mild sunny climate yearround and has some of the largest outdoor green spaces of any big city.

St. Jude Employees receive:

Your health and wellbeing are important to us. Thats why St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital provides employees with highquality benefits choices.

The Center for Protein Design is committed to building a lab culture that is rooted in respect diversity and inclusion. This foundation promotes a dynamic innovative and impactful scientific environment driven by empathy and intellectual curiosity.

Minimum Education and/or Training:

• Bachelors degree in relevant scientific area is required.
• Bachelors degree in biochemistry protein engineering synthetic biology molecular biology bioengineering or related discipline preferred.

Minimum Experience:

• 8 years of research experience is required with a Bacehlors degree.
• 6 years of research experience is required with a Masters degree.
• 3 years of research experience is required with a PhD.
• Prior experience in relevant lab techniques preferred.
• Experience in lab and scientific project coordination maintenance and other research support activities preferred.
• Demonstrated understanding of the field and related trends.
• 3 years of relevant professional experience in biochemistry protein engineering highthroughput methods or related disciplines preferred.

Ideal Candidate:

• PhD degree in biochemistry molecular biology or related discipline with experience working in a protein engineering environment.
• Experience in biotechnology industry and with lab automation a strong plus.
• An outstanding academic and professional track record of achievement.
• Experience with managing and mentoring wet laboriented researchers.

This Position May be Suitable For:

• Graduates with strong biochemistry research experience and leadership qualities looking for growth opportunities.
• Experienced protein engineers or synthetic biologists passionate about lab operations.
• Protein engineering or synthetic biology professionals interested in switching from industry to an academic environment focused on curiosity driven science and interdisciplinary research.

Compensation

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No Search Firms

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