Job Opportunities in Biology

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If you have filled a posted position and would like it removed from the web, contact Jill Foster jill.foster@duke.edu.

Work Study Position(posted 5/15/2008)

Tom Petes’ Lab in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology is seeking a work study student to prepare media and reagents and assist in general lab maintenance. The lab studies genome instability and DNA recombination and repair in yeast. This position will require 10-12 hours per week. Hours are somewhat flexible. Additional duties and research experience may be possible.

For more information contact Pat Greenwell (patricia.greenwell@duke.edu).

Summer Work Study Position (posted 4/25/2008)

We work on understanding the tumorigenic mechanisms of a pediatric cancer known as rhabdomyosarcoma. While this cancer is not common, in advanced forms it is most often fatal. Specifically, we are trying to understand how a fusion protein that results from a chromosomal translocation, called PAX3-FOXO1, contributes to this cancer. In this way, we might identify new treatment options for children with this cancer. We use standard methods of protein and nucleic acid analyis, as well as assays that test in vitro and in vivo tumorigenesis. Lab is located in the LSRC.

If interested, contact Corinne Linardic MD Phd, linar001@mc.duke.edu

Student Assistant (posted 4/22/08)

Did you know that our nuclear genome include mitochondrial pieces?

I am seeking an enthusiastic student to assist with a study of characterization of mitochondrial DNA copies in nuclear genomes. The assistant will use the current eukaryotic genomes to search for mitochondrial sequences and to characterize them. The first part of the study includes downloading sequences and running Blast to identify mitochondria pieces. The second part includes analysis of the pieces for characters such as size, nuclear and mitochondria locations. We will use this information to compare the nuclear copies of mitochondria in different species.

Desired qualifications: Preferably after taking basic sequence analysis or genomic course, i.e., with some knowledge of genomes, Blast and alignments. Some experience with Unix or terminal work is preferred. Familiarity with Perl or SQL would be a big plus. Salary is $10-12/hr.

Contact: send resume to Einat Hazkani-Covo at einat@duke.edu

Student Programmer (posted 4/22/08)

NESCent (National Evolutionary Synthesis Center) seeks a programmer to assist in the development of the Dryad data repository (http://datadryad.org ). The focus of this position will be on improving the process for submitting data to the repository.

For more information, see http://www.nescent.org/about/employment.php
Salary is $10-$15/hr, depending on skills. If interested, contact Ryan Scherle, rscherle@nescent.org. NESCent is located at 2024 W. Main St, corner of Ninth & Main streets across from East Campus

Summer position in the Alberts lab (posted 4/22/08)

Summer data assistant position available in Dr. Susan Alberts' animal behavior lab. Student should be patient and careful. Some experience with data management would be helpful. Federal work study required. Salary is $9/hr and schedule is flexible. If interested, email resume to Lacey Maryott, lacey.maryott@duke.edu.

Lab Assistant position available (posted 4/21/08)

A position is open in the Medical Center for a part-time (10-12 hrs/wk) laboratory assistant to start now and continue through the summer and 2008-09 academic year. Duties include assisting with laboratory stock solutions and media, autoclaving and Drosophila stocks as needed. Opportunities to help with plasmid construction, protein purification and genetics experiments. Prefer applicants with previous laboratory experience and interest in scientific research. Applicants should have taken biochemistry/chemistry, physics and math coursework with laboratories where relevant. Excellent entry level position into scientific research with potential for independent study.

Appllicants should send current CV with courses and statement of research experience to endow001@mc.duke.edu to apply.

Student Position- Duke Center on Global Change (posted 4/17/08)

The Duke Center on Global Change is filling 1 part time (~20
hours/week) undergrad or master's student position for summer 2008. The student who accepts this position will be responsible for data collection, data organization (table and spreadsheet building), and literature collection to assist in a project examining the impacts of bioenergy expansion on the Ogallala Aquifer in the Midwestern U.S.
This information will be used to build upon an existing economic
model of the U.S. agricultural and forestry sectors to add a detailed
Ogallala Aquifer component. The student should learn valuable skills
in data management, model building, and economic applications in
agriculture and natural resource management. Start and end dates are flexible. Work study is preferable but not required.

To apply, please email your resume to: Justin Baker, jsb24@duke.edu
(phone: 681-9368).

Animal Colony Care Assistant (posted 4/15/08)

Professor Kathleen Smith's lab has a position open for someone to assist in the care and maintenance of a colony of small mammals. The main qualifications that we are looking for are dependability and the willingness to pay attention to the details that will keep the animals happy and healthy. Other desirable qualifications include: experience in handling small mammals and the ability to lift moderate weights (e.g. feed and bedding sacks).

Duties and Responsibilities: Student workers will assist in the day-to-day maintenance of a colony of up to 125 Monodelphis domestica, a South American relative of the opossums seen along North Carolina roadways. If you have any experience with North American opossums (big, mean and ugly) this job might strike you as a nightmare, but Monodelphis fit into the palm of your hand, have a very sweet disposition and are actually quite cute. The colony is in the Biological Sciences Building. Primary duties include preparing fresh cages for weekly cage changes, cleaning dirty cages in commercial dish washers and keeping the colony rooms and supplies in good shape. Additional duties include assisting in monitoring breeding behavior. Training in animal handling and additional responsibilities may be added after gaining experience with the colony.

Particulars: Approximately 6-15 hours per week, with at least two blocks of 3 hours per week. Days and times are flexible. Pay is $9.00 per hour to start. Work-study is NOT required. The start date is flexible, and we will discuss this in the interview. The job continues until the end of summer semester, with the possibility of continuing through Fall semester or all of the 08/09 school year.

Contact: Heather Derby by email at HD20@duke.edu. We hope to choose someone by late April/early May. Email ASAP.

2 summer positions open in the Vascular Herbarium (Bio Sci Bldg). (posted 4/2/2008)

(http://www.biology.duke.edu/herbarium/vascular.html)
Work-Study Required, Starting pay $10.00 hr. Minimum of 10 hrs/week.

Qualifications: Neatness and attention to details. Good position for those who enjoy working with their hands. Some computer skills.

Duties and Responsibilities: Mounting dried Herbarium plant specimens for permanent deposit in the Vascular Herbarium at Duke. Assist with incoming and outgoing plant loans from around the world. Record keeping/typing.

If interested, contact Sherri Herndon or Dr. Wilbur, 660-7317.

Fish Feeders Needed (posted 4/1/2008)

The lab needs fishfeeders for the summer starting AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! The fish are fed sometime between 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM and between 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM. We are located in the Jones Building on Research Dr. The pay is $10.00 per hour. Please see more details below.

Feeding the fish takes about 1 1/2 hours per time. They are fed twice a day on the weekdays and once a day on the weekends. The number of hours each student works per week depends on their schedule and how many students are hired. Fish feeding responsibilities include preparing the food, feeding, mixing salt water, washing tanks, making sure the water is flowing into the tanks and that the screens are not clogged, monitoring their general health, cleaning dirty tanks, keeping carboys filled, letting us know when supplies are low, watching to see if dishes are in too long, and general maintenance.
It's fairly simple, but very important to us. The fish must be fed. So, the most important thing is reliability, being here when you say you're going to be.

The fish get fed twice a day on weekdays – once in the morning between
9 AM and 12 PM and then again in the afternoon, preferably late afternoon, but that time is flexible depending on students' schedules. The fish are fed just once a day on the weekends (best if it's early afternoon). It usually takes around 1 ½ hours to do the minimum feeding, checking, cleaning, filling, etc., but if you do other things (e.g. mixing salt water, doing full or 10% take-downs, performing water quality tests) you could put in several hours per visit. Obviously, the fish need to be fed every day, so we need several people to cover those 12 time slots.
The most important thing about the work is that once you've committed to a schedule that you adhere to it. The fish must be fed, and if you don't show up, it will mess up everyone else's schedule in the lab having to fill in for you. So, reliability is crucial.

You can be hired through work-study or just be hired. There are forms to fill out with the department's HR person. The processing of the paperwork can take a couple of weeks, so the sooner the process gets started, the better. If you are under 18 or if you are an international student, there is extra paperwork. The pay is $10.00/hour.

Because the spring semester ends soon, and the current students will be leaving by the end of the month, it would be very helpful if you could start the process as soon as possible (the paperwork, being trained, etc.). It would be VERY helpful if you could start work in early May. So, if you think you are interested, please email me (Sue at sdonerly@yahoo.com) or call 684-6744 to set up a time to visit the lab, get a sense of the responsibilities, and see if it is something you'd like to do.
Thank you!
Sue Donerly

Summer 2008: work-study position is available in the Poss Lab (posted 3/31/08)

The Poss lab zebrafish facility has a summer work study position available. Flexible hours, approximately 10-20 hours/week . Duties include general aquatic room maintenance and feeding, general lab maintenance, making solutions/media. Salary is $9.00/hr. Training provided. Opportunity available to extend work beyond the summer.

http://www.cellbio.duke.edu/Faculty/Poss/PossLabWebsite/home.htm

If interested, please contact Jennifer Holdway (j.holdway@duke.edu)

Summer Work Study Position (posted 3/20/08)
Biogeochemistry/ecology lab (Dr. Emily Bernhardt) has a summer work study position available. The work includes general lab tasks, such as cleaning and sorting glassware, assisting graduate students and post-docs with experiments and field work preparation, and data entry. Flexible hours, approximately 10-15 per week, scheduled around student's summer classes. Salary is $8/hr. If interested, contact Brooke Hassett, bhassett@duke.edu

Identification of novel antifungal drug targets
Summer/flexible start, continue in Fall, for pay or for credit
(posted 2/27/08)
This project will use genetics (initially in S. cerevisiae, subsequently in C. albicans and C. neoformans) to identify novel antifungal drug targets. The focus will be on the essential (in humans) amino acid and vitamin pathways. Because these pathways, which are present in fungi, are not present in humans,
inhibitors should affect the fungi but not the human host. This project will identify the amino acid and vitamin pathways - or specific steps in these pathways - where starvation, rather than being cytostatic, is cytocidal. Cytocidal starvation is of particular interest with regard to good antifungal drug targets. Contact John McCusker, mccus001@mc.duke.edu

Saccharomyces cerevisiae quantitative & population genetics
Summer/flexible start, continue in Fall, for pay or for credit (posted 2/27/08)
There are three distinct projects:
a.) Quantitative genetics and fungal virulence: Testing the ability of a large number of S. cerevisiae
strains to kill/survive in G. mellonella (greater wax moth) caterpillars. Subsequent work
will involve identifying the S. cerevisiae genes responsible for killing/survival.
b.) Quantitative genetics and fungal virulence: Mapping/identifying the quantitative trait genes responsible for growth in serum.
c.) Population and quantitative genetics: Testing a large number of S. cerevisiae strains for (i) the
prescence of different RNA based extrachromosomal elements (L-A, L-BC, M1, M2, M28, 20S, 23S),
(ii) minisatellite lengths in nuclear genes, and (iii) mitochondrial genotypes. Subsequent work will
involve determining the effect of different elements and genotypes on virulence and other phenotypes.
Contact John McCusker, mccus001@mc.duke.edu

Summer research position

A ten-week summer research position with stipend is open in the Rusche lab. The student will conduct an independent research project under the guidance of a graduate student and Dr. Rusche. The start date is flexible, but should be around June 1, 2008. Rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors will be considered.

The Rusche lab studies chromatin and the regulation of gene expression using yeast as a model organism. We are part of the Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy (IGSP) and the Biochemistry Department. Please see our website for more information. http://ives.biochem.duke.edu/faculty/laura-rusche

To apply, please send a resume and a cover letter to Laura Rusche at lrusche@biochem.duke.edu. The cover letter should describe why you are interested in this position. Applications will be evaluated starting March 1, 2008.