Post Doctoral Fellow: Aston-Jones Lab

Piscataway, NJ      ·     Full time

Recruitment/Posting Title:         Post Doctoral Fellow: Aston-Jones Lab

Job Category:                                      Staff & Executive – Research Support (Laboratory/Non-Laboratory)

Department:                                       RWJ – Brain Health Institute

Overview

New Jersey’s academic health center, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS) takes an integrated approach to educating students, providing clinical care, and conducting research, all with the goal of improving human health. Aligned with Rutgers University–New Brunswick and collaborating university wide, RBHS includes eight schools, a behavioral health network, and five centers and institutes that focus on cancer treatment and research, neuroscience, advanced biotechnology and medicine, environmental and occupational health, and health care policy and aging research.

Our faculty are teachers, clinicians, and scientists with unparalleled experience who advance medical innovation and provide patient care informed by the latest research findings. We offer an outstanding education in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, public health, nursing, biomedical research, and the full spectrum of allied health careers.

Our clinical and academic facilities are located throughout the state—at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, including Piscataway; and at locations in Newark, Scotch Plains, Somerset, Stratford, and other locations. Clinical partners include Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, Newark’s University Hospital in Newark, and other affiliates.

Through this community of healers, scientists, and scholars, Rutgers is equipped as never before to transform lives.

Posting Summary

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is seeking a Post Doctoral Fellow in Brain Health Institute at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, Aston-Jones Lab.

The incumbent will work as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the laboratory of the Director, Brain Health Institute (BHI) on a project dedicated to studying the neurobiology of drug abuse. He/She will work as part of a highly integrated research team utilizing a variety of laboratory technologies and approaches. Specialized skills in behavioral pharmacology are required for this position in studying the neural basis of addiction, reward and cognition. S/He will work as part of a highly integrated research team utilizing a variety of laboratory technologies and approaches, including behavioral models of addiction in laboratory animals, behavioral economics, immunohistochemistry, optogenetics, DREADDs, and in-vivo electrophysiology.

The incumbent will perform research on brain substrates of addiction using advanced behavioral economic and other behavioral and neurotransduction approaches in rat drug self-administration models. Research will use orexin-cre rats and local microinjections of DIO viral vectors into brain, immunohistochemical analyses, as well as assays for addiction-like behavioral phenotype to identify brain circuits responsible for addiction.

Among the key duties of this position are the following:

• Carries out behavioral studies of addiction models in laboratory animals (rats) to determine the role of orexin/hypocretin neurons in drug abuse.
• Carries out studies using viral transfection techniques that allow for manipulation of neural systems using optogenetics and designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs).
• Performs immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization procedures. Analyzes, organizes and presents data at laboratory meetings and major scientific meetings.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Position Status:                 Full Time

Daily Work Shift:              Day

FLSA:                                  Exempt

Grade:                                 99S

Standard Hours:               37.50

Union Description:          Non-Union

Payroll Designation:        PeopleSoft

Benefits 

Rutgers offers a comprehensive benefit program to eligible employees. For details, please go to http://uhr.rutgers.edu/benefits/benefits-overview.

Rutgers also offers a benefit program to eligible full-time postdoctoral fellow students. For details, please go to https://finance.rutgers.edu/healthcare-risk/insurance/postdoctoral-health-insurance.

COVID-19 Immunization Requirement Under Policy 60.1.35, Rutgers University requires all prospective employees to provide proof that they are fully vaccinated and have received a booster (where eligible) against COVID-19 prior to commencement of employment, unless the University has granted the individual a medical or religious exemption. Prospective employees who are not eligible for a booster at the time of an offer of employment must provide proof they have received a booster within two weeks (14 calendar days) of eligibility. Based on current guidance, individuals are considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19 two weeks after receiving the final dose of any COVID-19 vaccine authorized or approved for use in the United States by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Eligibility for a booster against COVID-19 varies and is explained on the University’s web site located at https://coronavirus.rutgers.edu/covid-19-vaccine. Failure to provide proof of primary vaccination and booster will result in rescission of a prospective employee’s offer of employment and/or disciplinary action up to and including termination.

Seniority Unit                       

Terms of Appointment:     Staff – 12 month

Position Pension Eligibility:         None

Qualifications

Minimum Education and Experience      

• PhD degree in neuroscience or a relevant science, with a focus on behavioral models of addiction.
• The incumbent should also demonstrate a record of productivity as first author on one or more scholarly peer reviewed publications.

• The incumbent should have training in animal handling and behavioral models of addiction, as well as experience in biological techniques, including microinjection of pharmacological agents, tissue sectioning and processing, immunohistochemistry and microscopy.

Certifications/Licenses    

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities               

• He/She should also be able to operate standard laboratory equipment such as centrifuges, incubators, shaking incubators and plate readers.

• Proficiency in English for both verbal and written communications is a requirement.

Preferred Qualifications  

Equipment Utilized

Physical Demands and Work Environment         

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

Sitting, standing, walking, reaching, kneeling, talking and hearing. No special vision requirements. Ability to lift up to 25 pounds. Computer data input.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

Lab environment. Moderate noise. Exposure to blood, excrement, anti-neoplastic drugs and possible exposure to infectious and communicable diseases. Universal precautions are mandatory. Exposure to hazardous chemicals.

Special Conditions             

Posting Details

Posting Number:                              22ST2954

Special Instructions to Applicants             

Regional Campus:                             Rutgers: Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS)

Home Location Campus:               Downtown New Brunswick

City:                                                       New Brunswick

State:                                                    NJ

Location Details

Pre-employment Screenings

All offers of employment are contingent upon successful completion of all pre-employment screenings.

Infection Control and Safety

This position is subject to all Rutgers University policies, including TB surveillance and other infection control and safety policies. Please review the Tuberculosis Surveillance Policy for additional information.

Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

It is university policy to provide equal employment opportunity to all its employees and applicants for employment regardless of their race, creed, color, national origin, age, ancestry, nationality, marital or domestic partnership or civil union status, sex, pregnancy, gender identity or expression, disability status, liability for military service, protected veteran status, affectional or sexual orientation, atypical cellular or blood trait, genetic information (including the refusal to submit to genetic testing), or any other category protected by law. As an institution, we value diversity of background and opinion, and prohibit discrimination or harassment on the basis of any legally protected class in the areas of hiring, recruitment, promotion, transfer, demotion, training, compensation, pay, fringe benefits, layoff, termination or any other terms and conditions of employment. For additional information please see the Non-Discrimination Statement at the following web address: http://uhr.rutgers.edu/non-discrimination-statement

Please click here to apply.