Assistant Research Officer at Kenya Medical Research - KEMRI

To provide laboratory support and data management for immunological studies aimed at understanding the targets of and mechanisms underlying naturally acquired immunity to malaria.  The main activities will include: Establishing and maintaining an electronic and physical database of reference sera for high titer responses to individual merozoite antigens. Routine culture of Plasmodium falciparum parasites. Assist in the development of functional assays for malaria. Routine ELISA, protein microarray and flow cytometry based assays.

JOB DIMENSIONS:

Staff operating at this grade range deal with non-standard work situations more regularly than staff at lower grades and take decisions often relating to the interpretation of standard operating procedures. They contribute to a research team; manage some projects and co-ordinate activities.

They are required to provide guidance to team members at lower grades, and also be involved in supervising the work of others. They carry out detailed extraction of data and present data or information for analysis by others.

Staff have responsibility for prioritising their own work and ensuring the necessary equipment/materials are available.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

To support and execute technical aspects of research in the lab under the guidance of the PI involving routine molecular biology and immunological assays, including:

• Culture of malaria parasites from laboratory lines.

• DNA extraction.

• Parasite genotyping/sequencing.

• Standard and competition ELISA assays

• Recombinant protein expression.

• Immunoprofiling using flow cytometry

• Immunoprofiling using protein microarrays.

• Data organisation, archiving, analysis and presentation.

• Assisting with routine laboratory activities and maintenance.

• To support and assist with training of less experienced members of the group.

• Learn new techniques as required.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• B.Sc. in biological or medical sciences.
• One year experience in basic molecular biology and/or immunological assays.

DESIRABLE:

• An interest in the molecular epidemiology and immunology of infectious diseases,
• Bioinformatics and/or malaria parasite biology would be added advantages.

COMPETENCIES:

• Ability to learn and apply new techniques quickly.
• Work effectively and independently as a team member in a collaborative research environment.
• Good oral and written communication skills.
• Good organisational and prioritisation skills.
• Careful attention to detail.
• Good analytical and follow through ability
• Ability to take and follow instructions