Job title: LABORATORY TECHNICIAN “M/F/+”
Affiliation: INSTITUT PASTEUR, PARIS
Workplace: CAGT Center at TOULOUSE
Publication date: Monday 24 January 2022
Type of contract: CDD technician
Job type: Technician in molecular biology
Contract duration: 12 to 18 months
Expected hiring date: March 1, 2022
Working hours: Full time
Remuneration: € 25.000 to 30.000 gross per year (depending on experience)
Desired level of education: Bac+2
Desired experience: 1 to 4 years
Applications to be sent to this email address
Missions
The successful candidate will perform laboratory work to process a large collection of archaeological samples (human bones and teeth) for the extraction and sequencing of ancient human and microbial DNA. This work, which requires working in a confined clean room environment, involves a variety of tasks from processing ancient bones and teeth with a drills and other tools, to extracting DNA from the pulverized samples, preparing sequencing libraries, and performing the necessary quality controls.
Activities
- Extraction of degraded and ancient DNA in a pressurized clean room
- Construction of DNA libraries for high throughput sequencing by Illumina technology
- Molecular enrichment of DNA libraries with genetic markers of interest
- DNA purification and assay on Tape Station 4200 (Agilent), Bio Analyzer (Agilent) and Qubit instruments
- DNA amplification by PCR and quantitative real-time PCR
- Use of an archiving system to store experimental data
- Communication of the results obtained during meetings
- Inventory management
Skills
- General knowledge of molecular biology and genomics
- Good management of molecular biology techniques
- Previous experience in one or more of the techniques mentioned in “Activities”
- Management of molecular biology equipment
- Know well and how to apply Good Laboratory Practices, Collective Protection Equipment and Personal Protection Equipment
- Very good predisposition for teamwork
- Know well how to report the activities done, including how to compile, organize and communicate the results of experiments
- Be able to transmit technical know-how
- Communicate and manage relations with internal and external interlocutors
- Sense of organization, rigor, and method
- Good command of English
Work context
The technician will be hired by the Microbial Paleogenomics Unit of the Institut Pasteur in Paris. However, all the work and sample processing will be done in the AGES team of the CAGT center in Toulouse. This laboratory is located at the University Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier, on the Toulouse site of the Faculty of Medicine of Purpan.
The Microbial Paleogenomics unit (MPU) is a research team created in 2020 that is interested in the study of ancient human and microbial genomes, which are used to reconstruct the history of infectious diseases and human populations of the past. The lab has a large collection of archaeological samples that must be processed (DNA extraction and sequencing) following the very strict standards of the ancient DNA field. The MPU has established a partnership with the CAGT Center in Toulouse for processing of the samples in their lab facilities . The work will be coordinated between the two laboratories: the planning and organization of the sample processing will be discussed with the Microbial Paleogenomics unit (remotely), all technical and methodological aspects of the work will be supervised by the CAGT staff (on-site), and the results will be discussed with both (in a mixed on-site/remote way).
The AGES group, associates a large panel of scientists from molecular archaeology, evolutionary biology, ecology, anthropology and bioinformatics, and is interested in a wide range of questions in the fields history, evolution, health (and more), which are tackled using ancient DNA approaches. In relation with this project and position, the group has developed a strong expertise in the development and implementation of wet lab methodologies and techniques for processing archaeological samples and generating ancient DNA data. The AGES team will be in charge of training and accompanying the technician on site for the duration of the contract.
Additional information
Please send your application (CV of 2 pages maximum), a letter of motivation (2 pages maximum) and the contact details of one or two referees to this address