Job no: 493119
Work type: Grant Funded
Location: Lewiston, ME
Categories: Academic Affairs: Science Resource Support Services
Title: Research Technician - Neuroscience & Biology
Position Purpose:
The Research Technician provides technical support for ongoing grant-funded research in the Woodworth and Quiñones-Frías laboratories. This individual will perform research using Drosophila and mice as model systems and support research projects on retinal development and regeneration, as well as presynaptic cell biology in Drosophila.
Job Duties:
Safety/Equipment and Lab Maintenance:
- Train undergraduate lab workers in current laboratory safety practices and procedures.
- Ensure that all laboratory users comply with all safety regulations.
- Ensure that all solid, chemical, and bio-hazardous wastes are handled properly.
- Maintain in a timely manner cleanliness and organization of the laboratory space.
Maintenance of Laboratory Reagents:
- Identify reagents to order, organize and store reagents, and prepare media, buffers, and other reagents as necessary.
- Perform quality control tests on reagents to ensure their suitability for use.
Lab-Specific Tasks:
- In Dr. Woodworth’s lab, genotyping and performing husbandry tasks (breeding setup, weaning, euthanasia) for the transgenic mouse colony.
- In Dr. Quiñones-Frías lab, fly stock maintenance includes changing fly food for the entire collection (~4-5 hours every 3 weeks) and changing the food of
frequently used stocks (~30 min task/ weekly).
- Help establish Dr. Quiñones-Frías new lab by purchasing and setting up equipment (10-12 hours; less time on weeks the collection needs to be flipped).
Student Research Support:
- Support thesis students working with techniques that are taught in the laboratory.
- Train students with the use of specialized equipment.
- In collaboration with faculty research mentor, assist students in experimental design or troubleshooting as needed.
Minimum Qualifications:
Education
A B.A. or B.S. degree in biology, neuroscience, biochemistry, or a related discipline is required.
Experience
Previous course-based or paid research assistant experience preferred.
Skills and Knowledge
- Commitment to equity and inclusion, and serving the needs of a culturally and educationally diverse community.
- Ability to collaborate with faculty to maintain a high degree of research output from the laboratory.
- Ability to work successfully with students at all levels of understanding and cognitive and emotional development, facilitating laboratory cohesion within a supportive atmosphere.
- Ability to organize and prioritize multiple tasks and demands within established guidelines of the laboratory.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills including scientific writing style.
- Ability to work independently and handle multiple priorities with some supervision.
- Willingness and ability to learn additional applications and methods as needed.
Benefits:
Bates College offers competitive salaries, excellent benefits (health, dental, sick leave, 24 days of vacation, 2 personal days, 13 paid holidays, dependent care subsidy, free parking, access to library and athletic facilities & more), and a supportive, collegial environment in a drug and smoke-free workplace.
Equal Employment Opportunity Statement:
Bates College is committed to the principle of equal opportunity and providing an educational and work environment free from discrimination. The college prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, age, disability, genetic information or veteran status and other legally protected statuses in the recruitment and admission of its students, in the administration of its education policies and programs, or in the recruitment of its faculty and staff. Bates College adheres to all applicable state and federal equal opportunity laws and regulations. All college faculty, staff, students, contractors, visitors, and volunteers are responsible for understanding and complying with the Non-Discrimination Policy.
Inquiries concerning the college’s policies, compliance with applicable laws, statutes, and regulations (such as Title VII, Title IX, and ADA/Section 504), and complaints may be directed to Gwen Lexow, Title IX Officer, 207-786-6445 or via email at [email protected].
About Bates:
Bates is internationally recognized as a leading liberal arts college, attracting 2,000 students from across the U.S. and around the world.
Since 1855, Bates has been dedicated to educating the whole person through creative and rigorous scholarship in a collaborative residential community. Committed to opportunity and excellence, Bates has always admitted students without regard to gender, race, religion, or national origin.
Cultivating intellectual discovery and informed civic action, Bates prepares leaders sustained by a love of learning and zeal for responsible stewardship of the wider world. Bates engages the forces — intellectual trends, demographic changes, and technology — that are transforming higher education and the world into which our students graduate.
Bates has highly competitive admissions, graduates over 90 percent of its entering students, and more than half of its alumni earn graduate degrees. Bates employs 200 faculty members and 550 staff.
The college is proud of deep roots in the Lewiston/Auburn community, Maine’s second-largest urban area with a population of approximately 65,000. Bates is located on a beautiful, 133-acre, traditional New England campus in Lewiston, an emerging city with an entrepreneurial climate, a lively arts scene, and a dynamic business community. Bates is 35 miles north of Portland, 140 miles north of Boston, and 350 miles north of New York City.
Advertised: 18 May 2026
