Overall purpose:
To oversee management of studies as part of the in vivo team in the Mary Lyon Centre (MLC) at MRC Harwell.
This post would be responsible for executing studies planned by the in-vivo project managers for external academic researchers or biotech companies. These studies involve mouse models of human diseases, including cancers, mitochondrial disease, kidney disease and other areas. Most studies involve phenotyping tests, dosing and welfare assessment, followed by tissue dissection after study termination.
This role requires excellent organisation skills to plan studies across teams, organise workflows and ensure work is completed on time and of high quality. This role is also a critical step in the quality control process, ensuring that day-to-day changes in the study plan are well thought out and appropriate, and that detailed records are kept and reported back to senior managers and researchers. Whilst the post-holder will need to carry out some procedures, such as dosing and tissue dissection, the primary purpose of this post is organisation and record keeping.
The post-holder will line manage a team of two technicians who will carry out many of the dosing and imaging experiments and will liaise closely with other managers and teams of technicians who work together to complete these studies.
Main duties/key responsibilities:
Line Management
1. Line management of technicians working in the in vivo projects team, including pastoral care, career development, managing performance etc.
Study Management
2. Day-to-day responsibility for running allocated studies, which includes scheduling mouse cohorts, arranging technicians to cover tests, calculating doses and diluting drugs, organising appropriate training, ensuring that full plans are in place and that relevant paperwork ( risk assessments and SOPs) is signed off by technicians
3. Allocate workload of technicians under direct line management, as well as discussing with other managers to ensure distribution of workload across teams
4. Develop SOPs and ensure these are read and adhered to
5. Troubleshoot problems that arise in studies, using your experience to make appropriate judgment on the best course of action
6. Work flexibly to manage changing priorities in a busy working environment
7. Generate study records and ensure that they are up to date and accurate
8. Ensure that all studies are compliant with Home Office regulations;, that they are covered by the Project Licence and that technicians working on the study are licenced, trained and competent
9. Work alongside other managers in the MLC to ensure that mice are appropriately looked after and welfare is taken care of as a priority
10. Carry out basic plotting to check data such as mouse body weights vs treatment
11. Carry out quality control of data relevant to your studies, helping the data management and project management teams to ensure that all data is complete and correct
Advisory role / responding to enquiries
12. Liaise with internal and external users in response to enquiries about studies under your supervision
Training
13. Undergo training to achieve a Home Office Licence to allow work on mice
14. Carry out training of technicians, particularly in good laboratory skills, making up solutions and calculating doses
Working relationships:
The post-holder will work within the in vivo projects team and will be line managed by the In Vivo Project Manager. They will work closely with 8-9 other managers; together these managers look after all the teams working with mice in the Mary Lyon Centre and share resources to get the studies done. This requires someone with excellent teamwork skills and the ability to build good working relationships and support both their own team and the teams they work alongside.
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Education/Qualifications/Training Required:
Essential:
15. Master’s degree or a bachelor’s degree, with extensive biological experience in an academic or commercial research setting.
Desirable:
16. Home Office licence
Previous Work Experience Required:
Essential:
17. Extensive research experience, including working in a laboratory environment
18. Study or project management
Desirable:
19. Experience of working with any laboratory animals
20. Experience of working under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986
Knowledge and Experience:
Essential:
21. Proficient in the use of Microsoft packages
22. Ability to accurately follow protocols/SOPs
23. Ability to calculate concentrations and doses
24. Experience in accurate record keeping for multiple studies
Desirable:
25. Experience with laboratory information management systems
26. Experience of writing SOP’s
27. Experience of quality control processes
Personal skills/Behaviours/Qualities:
Essential:
28. Excellent communication skills
29. Excellent attention to detail
30. Flexible and adaptable in approach to work to ensure changing priorities and deadlines are met
31. A service-delivery focus
32. Ability to work on day-to-day functions both independently and as part of a team
Desirable:
33. Experience in training others
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