Research Technician

**Acknowledgement of Country**:
CSIRO acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land, sea and waters, of the area that we live and work on across Australia. We acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture and pay our respects to their Elders past and present.

**Role highlights**:

- **Expertise in cell culture, molecular biology, biochemistry and virology to perform the experiments.**:

- **One-year, full-time opportunity.**

**About CSIRO**:

- As Australia's national science agency, CSIRO is solving the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. Many of our iconic innovations were once considered impossible until someone, just like you, joined us and took on the challenge.
- Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP), our national biocontainment research facility, is a vital part of Australia’s biosecurity infrastructure. Our team works closely with researchers, animal, and human health agencies to protect Australia’s multi-billion-dollar livestock and aquaculture industries, and the public, from emerging infectious disease threats.
- Visit CSIRO.au and Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness - CSIRO for more information.

Join us and start creating tomorrow today

**The Opportunity**:
We have a dynamic and inclusive team in ACDP, and we are seeking a Research Project Officer to join an exciting and innovative study aiming to test novel therapeutics for human neurodegenerative diseases.

**Your high-level duties will include**:

- Carrying out pre-determined experiments to test the efficacy of selected proteins to reduce neurodegeneration in ex-vivo models.
- Isolating and culturing mouse primary neurons from embryos to establish a ex-vivo mouse neuronal system for testing the efficacy of the protein derivatives.
- Generating and maintaining 2D, 3D human stem cell-derived neuronal model systems for testing the efficacy of the protein derivatives.
- Generating recombinant lentiviruses from plasmids using specific cell lines, which would be used for the expression of peptide therapeutics in human and mouse neurons.
- Efficiently handling synthetic peptides and performing peptide dose response assays in ex-vivo neuronal cultures.
- Performing immunocytochemistry, confocal microscopy, western blotting, protein interactome analysis using coprecipitation, ELISA and molecular biology including qPCR assays in neuronal culture samples.
- Operate under laboratory guidelines relevant to high containment laboratories (up to PC3 level) and under SSBA, OGTR and Department of Agriculture regulatory frameworks.

**Role particulars**:
**Location**:Geelong, Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP), VIC

**Salary**:AU$96k - AU$109k plus up to 15.4% superannuation

**Tenure & work schedule**:Specified term of 12 months / Full-time

**Reference**:99931

**Essential**
- Tertiary qualifications in biomedical science or other relevant field, or equivalent relevant work experience.
- Demonstrated experience in performing experimental research, including planning, implementing, and completing research projects within defined timelines.
- Experience in sterile cell culture techniques and the ability to adapt this expertise for working with ex-vivo neuronal model systems.
- Experience in working in a high-containment laboratory, including demonstrated ability to operate within national and institutional compliance frameworks.
- Experience in basic classical virology techniques, viral cultures, and viral quantification methods.
- Demonstrated experience in data analysis and writing or compiling data for scientific reports

**Desirable**
- Experience in light microscopy techniques, including confocal/epifluorescence microscopy and immunostaining.
- Experience in biochemical assays, including western blotting.
- Experience in molecular biology skills including plasmid cloning, amplification and recombinant virus generation from plasmids.
- Experience in handling and maintaining neural or primary cell cultures.
- For full details about this role and other criteria, please review the Position Description.

**Eligibility**:
**Not sure if you meet all the criteria**:
**Setting you up for success**:
We are committed to providing a recruitment process that is fair, equitable and accessible to everyone. We recognise that it may be helpful for us to adjust our process to make it equitable for your individual situation. Please contact _the Talent Partner _and let us know how we can support you.

**Life at CSIRO and flexible working arrangements**:
We work flexibly at CSIRO, offering a range of options for how, when and where you work. We can discuss flexible work arrangements with you during the recruitment process. CSIRO also offers a range of leave entitlements, benefits and career development opportunities. To find out more, visit Careers at CSIRO.

**Inclusion and belonging**:

- Solving Australia's greatest challenges takes a diversity of minds and lived experiences. We know diverse tea