Assistant Staff Scientist - Neuro-Oncology

Department Overview

The Staff Scientist serves as the senior scientific and operational lead for the day-to-day activities of a multidisciplinary preclinical cancer research laboratory focused on central nervous system tumors, tumor biology, the tumor microenvironment, therapeutic resistance, and development of novel treatment strategies.

Working under the overall scientific direction and formal supervision of the Principal Investigator (PI), the Staff Scientist translates scientific priorities into rigorous, reproducible experimental plans; remains substantially hands-on at the bench and in animal studies; and provides day-to-day scientific direction, troubleshooting, training, and technical oversight to laboratory personnel.

The position has primary responsibility for effective wet-laboratory operations, including preclinical model and method development, animal-study coordination, standard operating procedures, quality control, inventory and equipment oversight, biosafety and animal-research compliance coordination, core-facility coordination, data organization and reproducibility, and scientific contributions to grants, manuscripts, presentations, and trainee development.

Function/Duties of Position

1. Scientific Research and Experimental Leadership

• Design, execute, analyze, troubleshoot, and interpret rigorous preclinical studies of cancer biology, tumor heterogeneity, tumor-host interactions, therapeutic response and resistance, and the tumor microenvironment.
• Translate priorities established with the PI into experimental plans, milestones, study timelines, and practical next steps; independently develop, optimize, validate, and implement new models, assays, and workflows.
• Apply appropriate controls, quantitative methods, statistics, and sample-size considerations; integrate results across platforms and prepare publication-quality figures and analyses.
• Remain actively engaged in hands-on research while ensuring scientific rigor, complete documentation, data quality, reproducibility, and research integrity across projects.  

2. Wet-Laboratory Operations, Quality, and Compliance

• Serve as the day-to-day scientific and operational lead of the wet laboratory; coordinate project workflows and animal-study schedules, including implantation, treatment, imaging, tissue collection, necropsy, and downstream analyses.
• Develop, maintain, review, and standardize SOPs, protocols, electronic laboratory records, raw-data repositories, and quality-control practices.
• Maintain centralized inventories and minimum-stock thresholds for reagents, antibodies, cell lines, animal models, and supplies; oversee frozen stocks/biobanks, cell-line authentication, mycoplasma testing, passage records, and model quality.
• Coordinate equipment maintenance, calibration, service and repairs; work with vendors and institutional cores; track supply, animal, imaging, and core-service expenditures for PI and administrative review.
• Coordinate IACUC/DCM activities, animal records, required training and protocol documentation with the PI; oversee lab-level BSL-2 and applicable viral-vector practices, training, records, and safety compliance.  

3. Preclinical Models and Technical Research

• Generate, optimize, and maintain applicable orthotopic, xenograft, syngeneic, and other in vivo tumor models; perform rodent handling, anesthesia, perioperative care, dosing, injections, vascular access, longitudinal monitoring, and survival surgery, including tumor implantation.
• Plan and perform small-animal optical imaging using IVIS or comparable platforms; conduct necropsy, tissue harvesting, fixation, freezing, preservation, and preparation for downstream analyses.
• Independently perform, troubleshoot, supervise, and teach mammalian cell culture and cryopreservation; histology; immunohistochemistry; immunofluorescence; microscopy and quantitative image analysis; flow cytometry/cell sorting; Western blotting; ELISA; and RNA/DNA extraction and sample preparation.
• Train and assess qualified personnel before delegating routine or complex procedures, and coordinate specialized work with institutional histology, flow cytometry, genomics, imaging, and animal-resource cores.   

4. Grants, Publications, Data Analysis, and Scientific Communication

• Contribute substantially to extramural grant applications and progress reports by developing experimental approaches, methods, preliminary-data strategies, figures, research content, and responses to scientific review.
• Lead and co-author manuscripts; draft and integrate sections, figures, tables, and analyses; coordinate scientific contributions; and assist with responses to peer review.
• Analyze and interpret experimental datasets using appropriate quantitative and basic biostatistical methods, and present results through abstracts, posters, talks, laboratory meetings, and institutional or external scientific conferences.  

5. Scientific Training and Mentorship

• Provide day-to-day scientific direction, work coordination, technical training, competency assessment, and mentorship to research staff, students, fellows, and other laboratory personnel.
• Support experimental design, troubleshooting, data interpretation, figure preparation, scientific writing, and presentations; provide the PI with input on workload, technical performance, training needs, staffing, hiring, and professional development.
• Formal human-resources supervision, personnel actions, and final performance-management authority remain with the PI or designated administrative supervisor.   

6. Other Duties as Assigned

• Perform other scientific or operational duties consistent with the scope and level of the Staff Scientist position. 

Required Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent doctoral degree in cancer biology, molecular biology, cell biology, neuroscience, immunology, pharmacology, biomedical sciences, or a closely related discipline.    
• Minimum of 7 years of relevant postdoctoral/post-PhD research experience. Internal candidates must meet applicable OHSU Staff Scientist experience requirements, including completion of 3-5 years at the Assistant Staff Scientist level.
• Strong research background and demonstrated peer-reviewed publication record in cancer or closely related biomedical research.
• Substantial hands-on experience independently designing, executing, troubleshooting, and interpreting complex preclinical experiments and in vivo cancer models.
• Demonstrated capability with rodent procedures and survival surgery; mammalian cell culture and aseptic technique; histology, IHC, IF, and fluorescence microscopy; quantitative image analysis; flow cytometry/cell sorting; Western blotting; ELISA; and RNA/DNA extraction and sample preparation.
• Experience with IVIS or a comparable small-animal optical imaging platform, including acquisition, quantitative analysis, troubleshooting, and interpretation.
• Experience with BSL-2 practices and applicable viral vectors, animal-research/IACUC compliance coordination, rigorous laboratory records, data QC, and reproducibility practices.
• Ability to provide scientific work direction and train personnel while managing multiple concurrent projects and experimental workflows.
• Ability to develop, optimize, validate, troubleshoot, standardize, and document complex experimental protocols and preclinical models.
• Strong knowledge of cancer biology, experimental design, appropriate controls, basic statistics, sample-size considerations, data integrity, and reproducibility.
• Ability to critically evaluate data, identify technical or biological explanations for unexpected findings, and generate publication-quality analyses, figures, and presentations.
• Ability to coordinate laboratory schedules, SOPs, inventory, equipment, core facilities, and compliance activities so experiments progress safely and reliably.
• Excellent written, verbal, analytical, organizational, interpersonal, and time-management skills; ability to work independently and collaboratively within a multidisciplinary environment.
• Ability to provide effective scientific leadership without formal HR authority and to maintain reliable attendance and punctuality for an on-site laboratory role.
• Ability to perform the job duties with or without accommodation.

Preferred Qualifications

• Doctoral training directly related to cancer biology, neuro-oncology, tumor immunology, or preclinical therapeutics.
• Brain tumor, glioma, or neuro-oncology research.
• Rat experimental models and/or development of new animal models or preclinical systems.
• Patient-derived xenograft (PDX)-derived cell lines and/or in vivo PDX models.
• Prior responsibility for day-to-day operation or scientific leadership of an academic wet laboratory.
• Substantial contributions to NIH, DoD, foundation, institutional, or industry-sponsored grant applications and funded research programs.
• Single-cell RNA sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, or related multi-omics approaches.
• PCR/qPCR, molecular cloning, genetic manipulation, and/or CRISPR/Cas9.
• Preclinical MRI, PET, PET/MRI, or other small-animal molecular imaging techniques.
• Work with radioisotopes or radiotracers under applicable institutional requirements.
• Working knowledge of single-cell and spatial experimental design, sample requirements, quality control, and interpretation sufficient to collaborate effectively with specialized analytical investigators.
• Experience with advanced quantitative imaging, bioinformatics, or additional experimental methods relevant to cancer research.

Additional Details

• Ability to develop, optimize, validate, troubleshoot, standardize, and document complex experimental protocols and preclinical models.

• Strong knowledge of cancer biology, experimental design, appropriate controls, basic statistics, sample-size considerations, data integrity, and reproducibility.

• Ability to critically evaluate data, identify technical or biological explanations for unexpected findings, and generate publication-quality analyses, figures, and presentations.

• Ability to coordinate laboratory schedules, SOPs, inventory, equipment, core facilities, and compliance activities so experiments progress safely and reliably.

• Excellent written, verbal, analytical, organizational, interpersonal, and time-management skills; ability to work independently and collaboratively within a multidisciplinary environment.

• Ability to provide effective scientific leadership without formal HR authority and to maintain reliable attendance and punctuality for an on-site laboratory role.

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