Career Center

As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem solving skills and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.

UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty.

The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (PBSCI) within the UW School of Medicine is the third largest clinical department  with 285 full-time faculty members, 280 clinical faculty members, and over 300 staff. Department faculty provide clinical services in 5 hospitals, 14 primary care locations, and several outpatient sites in addition to telepsychiatry consultations to more than 150 clinics in Washington and beyond. As the only academic psychiatry department serving the five state WWAMI region (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho), the Department’s highly competitive residency training program is largely responsible for developing the mental health workforce in the Pacific Northwest. The Department’s robust research portfolio totals $35 million in grants and contracts per year for projects ranging from clinical neurosciences to treatment development to health policy and population health. The Department is recognized as an international leader in developing, testing, and implementing Collaborative Care, an integrated care model increasingly seen as a solution for population-based mental health care. Other areas of excellence include Addictions, Autism, High Risk Youth, Neurosciences, and Trauma, and the Department is developing innovative new programs in Technology and Mental Health, Global Mental Health, Maternal and Child Mental Health, and Targeted Intervention Development.

The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences has an outstanding opportunity for a Research Scientist/Engineer to join their team.

The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences is recruiting for a Research Scientist/Engineer. We are seeking a Research Scientist to focus on the analysis of immune responses to vaccines in pre-clinical and clinical samples by techniques such as ELISA, ELISPOT, flow cytometry, cell sorting (FACS), cell sorting paired with sequencing, and bioinformatics.

Describe the field of research this position is engaged in:
Vaccine and Antibody: Discovery and Development

Describe the purpose of the research project(s) this position supports:
The Pravetoni lab at the University of Washington School of Medicine is seeking a scientist to support the development of vaccines and antibody-based therapeutics to counteract opioid use disorders and overdoses. Our unique multidisciplinary research program integrates vaccine design, antibody engineering, immunomodulators and adjuvants, formulation and delivery platforms, pre-clinical models, immunoprofiling, and GLP/GMP studies to support clinical evaluation. Our team is currently undertaking Phase I clinical trials of vaccines targeting various opioids. Strategies and platforms are applied to the development of vaccines or antibodies against other biological or chemical threats (e.g., SARS-CoV-2, cancer, antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections).


DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The position is focused on immunoprofiling of the innate and adaptive immune response to support vaccine development.

The ideal candidate will work in team efforts focused on pre-clinical and/or clinical testing of vaccines in animal models and human subjects.

The ideal candidate will work in team efforts focused on the evaluation of vaccine-specific immune responses by assays such as: flow cytometry, ELISA, FACS, ELISPOT, Octet, Blitz, cytokine panels, X-ray crystallography, or other equivalent immunology-related techniques.

The ideal candidate will support team efforts focused on technology transfer of such conjugate vaccines to contractors. As such, the individual is expected, or will be trained for, to assist with creation of Standard Operating Procedures to detail laboratory processes.

Preferred Qualifications: Experience, or ability to learn flow cytometry, ELISPOT, FACS, tissue culture, and sequencing of human blood samples.


Distribution of workload will likely be:

Solve problems related to ongoing research projects. Progression towards independently performing the following experimental procedures: flow cytometry, FACS, ELISPOT, collaborative efforts to collect sequencing data, and other immunology-focused techniques.

Actively involved in logistics related to sample collections from human or animal subjects.

Assist with publications, patents, or other disclosure such as power points or posters. The individual could be a co-author or 1st author in publications depending upon research output.


REQUIREMENTS

Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmacology, Immunology, Chemistry, Biology Pharmaceutics, or related discipline.

1 year work related experience.

Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.


ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Ability to use a flow cytometer, or willing to learn.

Ability to perform or ability to learn ex vivo analysis of B cells (e.g., ELISPOT), or other cell types isolated from human subjects.


DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Experience working with groups engaged in immunology research using flow cytometry, FACS, and similar techniques.

Working knowledge of Prism software to graph data, or other software required to perform research duties.

Ability to prepare posters or PowerPoint presentations to showcase data at internal or external meetings, or to support publications in peer review articles.


Application Process:   The application process for UW positions may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process.  These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others.  Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your “My Jobs” page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.