University of Chicago·Chicago, Illinois
The role involves supporting daily technical duties in a cancer immunotherapy lab, including cell culture and animal colony maintenance. Responsibilities also include data analysis, literature reviews, and collaborating with students and postdoctoral fellows.
About the Department Hans Schreiber's lab uses a mouse model to study T cell-mediated immunotherapy in progressively growing tumors. The lab focuses on the combined effects of CD4 and CD8 T cells and has contributed to a number of important discoveries in the field of cancer immunotherapy. The lab uses a combination of in vivo and in vitro experiments and has developed several imaging methodologies to inform findings everywhere from the molecular through tissue-level.
Job Summary In the Schreiber Laboratory in the Department of Pathology, the employee will be working under supervision of a postdoc and the principal investigator to support and assist with the daily technical and project associated duties. The laboratory does basic, pre-clinical as well as clinical research. The incumbent should be a proactive participant member of the team and interested in research investigating molecular and immunologic aspects of cancer.
This at-will position is wholly or partially funded by contractual grant funding which is renewed under provisions set by the grantor of the contract. Employment will be contingent upon the continued receipt of these grant funds and satisfactory job performance.
Culture work. Maintenance of an animal colony (small rodents, mainly mice) including breeding and genotyping. Maintenance of a liquid nitrogen cell bank and managing lab supplies and reagents. Eager to understand and support the ongoing research projects as well as exploring related literature, participation and presentations in lab meetings, research seminars and training possibilities. Help to keep the lab up-to-date with all mandatory requirements/protocols. Train and collaborate with incoming graduate and undergraduate students, postdoctoral fellows, residents and visiting researchers. Also, to interact productively with other faculty inside and outside the University. The applicant should be responsive to highly flexible working hours, quickly adapt to new projects and environment and develop an understanding of the nature of experiments performed in molecular biology and cancer immunology. Associated time constraints may require occasional weekend time and late evenings. Maintains technical and administrative support for a research project. Analyzes and maintains data and/or specimens. Conducts literature reviews. Assists with preparation of reports, manuscripts and other documents. Installs, sets up and performs experiments; interacting with students and other laboratory staff under the direction of the principal investigator. Maintains recruiting and scheduling research subjects; assisting with developing or amending study protocols; assisting with developing data collection tools; assisting with building databases; and providing general administrative support. Has general awareness in research techniques or methods, regulatory policies and procedures, and relevant scientific field. Performs other related work as needed.
Education: Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.
Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through < 2 years of work experience in a related job discipline.
Certifications: ---
Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s in molecular/cell biology or related fields. Experience: 1-2 years of experience in a research environment. Preferred Competencies An excellent knowledge of spoken and written English. Excellent quantitative skills are also needed. Ability to write up (detailed design) and execute experiments discussed with the principal investigator. Ability to understand the ongoing research projects and related literature, participation in journal clubs and research seminars and training. Ability to guide, motivate and encourage incoming graduate and undergraduate students, postdoctoral fellows, residents and visiting researchers, and to interact productively with other faculty inside and outside the University. Ability to work as a positive team member. Proficiency in computers, particularly data base search and data entry. Ability to be a proactive participant/team member dedicated to research exploring the molecular biology and immunology of cancer. Ability to be highly flexible with work hours, and quickly adapt to new projects. Ability to perform database searches and data entry as well as the use of Excel, Word and PowerPoint. Understanding of basic molecular biology techniques, in particular basic molecular cloning and PCR design. Basic knowledge of cell biology, genetics and immunology. Working Conditions Lab environment. Application Documents Resume (required) Cover Letter (preferred)
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When applying, the document(s) MUST be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.
Role Impact Individual Contributor: Scheduled Weekly Hours 40
Pay Rate Type Salary FLSA Status Exempt Pay Range $50,000.00 - $70,000.00 The included pay rate or range represents the University’s good faith estimate of the possible compensation offer for this role at the time of posting.
Eligible Yes The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.
Requires a college degree in a related field with less than 2 years of experience, though a Bachelor's or Master's in molecular/cell biology is preferred. Candidates must be flexible with working hours and possess basic knowledge of molecular biology and immunology.
Market context
Research technician openings in Illinois are often driven by university, hospital, and biotech lab needs, especially for candidates with molecular biology or immunology basics and the flexibility to work varied hours. These roles can be competitive because employers often prefer a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree even when less than 2 years of experience is required. Before applying, compare the AI-summarized requirements and benefits here with the original posting so you can quickly confirm fit and save research time.