Molecular Biologist II (Wet Lab Analyst) at Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS)

Job Summary

Reporting to Molecular Biologist I, the overall responsibility will be to manage, maintain and perform sequencing assays at the Forensics Laboratory following Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in accordance with regulatory guidelines.

Job Requirements

• BSc in Biochemistry or Molecular Biology
• Sanger Sequencing Certification is mandatory
• At least three (3) years’ experience in an established molecular biology laboratory
• Computer literate with proficiency in different statistical software will be an added advantage

Responsibilities

• Developing pipelines and workflows to address optimization challenges, automating established analysis and supporting new assay development.
• Reviewing and providing guidance on inquiries about sequencing standards and services.
• Performing library preparation and QC for Sequencing.
• Be able to reproducibly follow established procedures as well as troubleshoot experiments as necessary to enable sequencing of evidence submitted to the forensic section.
• Performing all molecular biology work in pre-PCR and post-PCR lab.
• Developing, validating and applying new protocols and workflows to increase robustness, time efficiency and cost effectiveness of the sequencing lab.
• Establishing good sample tracking (LIMS) system and managing metadata information relevant to the samples/extracts/libraries.
• Reviewing and publishing sequencing lab SOPs to laboratory repository.
• Writing protocols and methods for datasets and scientific publications.
• Supporting science communication efforts including lab tours, conferences, and writing articles.