"Alerted.org

Req #: 246275

Department: PSYCHIATRY AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Posting Date: 05/21/2025

Closing Info:

Open Until Filled

Salary: $4,276 - $7,765 per month

Limited Recruitment: **Open to UW Employees only**

Shift: First Shift

Notes:

As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For a complete description of our benefits for this position, please visit our website, click here. (https://hr.uw.edu/benefits/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/benefits-professional-staff-librarians-academic-staff-20230701\_a11y.pdf )

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 within the UW School of Medicine is the third largest clinical department within the School of Medicine with 330 full-time faculty members, 460 courtesy faculty members, and over 350 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 $67 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. Psychiatry is the third largest department in the School of Medicine and the largest non-divisioned department. The overall annual operations funding from all sources is over $130 million.

The Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences within the UW School of Medicine currently has an outstanding opportunity for a Research Scientist/Engineer 1.** **POSITION PURPOSE

The field of research this position is engaged in includes Medication and Treatment Discovery and Development applied to the field of Substance Use Disorder, Opioid Use Disorder, and Behavioral Pharmacology. The experiments will involve antibody analysis by standard immunological assays (e.g., ELISA), flow cytometry, competitive binding assays. The experiments may also involve tasks such as rodent handling, rodent colony management, laboratory management, and in vivo data generation using established procedures like thermal nociception, oximetry, scoring, and sample collection (e.g., blood draws). Substance administration is conducted via intramuscular (IM), intraperitoneal (IP), intravenous (IV), and subcutaneous (SC) routes, and the position also involves euthanasia with tissue collection.

The Pravetoni lab at the University of Washington School of Medicine is seeking a Research Scientist/Engineer 1 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).

We are seeking a Research Scientist/Engineer 1 to focus on isolation, engineering, expression and purification of antibodies, proteins, and testing in rodent models (e.g., enzymes, cytokines). This position is centered on the discovery and development of antibody- or protein-based therapeutics. The candidate will contribute to pre-clinical testing of antibodies in animal models and the evaluation of antibodies or proteins using assays such as ELISA, BCA assay, Protein G chromatography, LAL assay for endotoxin content, SDS-PAGE, MALDI-TOF, DLS, and SEC HPLC. Additional responsibilities include supporting the technology transfer of conjugate vaccines to contractors by assisting in the development of Standard Operating Procedures documenting laboratory processes. The candidate will also assist with purchasing equipment under $10,000, tracking receipts, and communicating with vendors as needed.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Solve problems related to ongoing research projects. Progression towards independently performing the following experimental procedures: isolate hybridomas, clone, express, purify mAb or proteins, mAb engineering using plasmids, transfections, cell culture techniques. Characterize mAbs by SEC HPLC, Octet, or other related technique. Similar approach could be applied to characterization of polyclonal antibodies (55%):

+ Troubleshoot and complete basic laboratory assays (e.g., ELISA) under the supervision of senior scientists or post-docs.

+ Communicate raw data from assays to supervisors or more senior team members.

+ Plan and manage assigned experiments in collaboration with the team; execute experiments as designed.

+ Ensure required reagents and tools are available, clean, sterile, and ready for use.Actively involved in logistics related to sample collections from human or animal subjects (40%).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 (5%). **MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS** Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmacology, Immunology, Chemistry, Biology Pharmaceutics, or related discipline, AND a minimum of 1 year work related experience, OR an equivalent combination of education/experience. **ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS**

+ Ability to use conduct molecular biology techniques, protein expression or purification.

+ Ability to use instruments to characterize mAbs or proteins.

+ Knowledge of software or browsers for antibody engineering, such as SAbPred-Therapeutic Antibody Profiler to model CDR or guide grafting of murine antibody sequences into human frameworks.

+ Ability to design DNA constructs or plasmids, use of cell or tissue culture to grow hybridomas and cell lines to express mAbs. **DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS**

+ Experience with immunological assays such as ELISA and flow cytometry.

+ Experience handling rodents.

+ Experience working with groups engaged in immunology, protein or vaccine or antibody research.

+ 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 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 access 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.

University of Washington is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, among other things, race, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.