Description

Are you looking for a career that will make an impact?

The Performance and Readiness Division of Leidos is currently looking for a Research Scientist I to support the Diagnostics and Surveillance Department, Naval Medical Research Center, Silver Spring, MD. The position will perform duties and help maintain the operations of the Department, which conducts basic through advanced research to support the detection, treatment, and prevention of infectious diseases of military significance.

Are you ready for unique and exciting work?

Primary Responsibilities.

The ideal candidate shall:

• Develop diagnostic and surveillance assays for military relevant infectious diseases and provide technical support for rickettsial disease surveillance.
• Apply all state-of-art techniques in molecular biology, cell biology, immunology and/or bioinformatics to advance currently funded projects. In addition, develop new research projects to support overall program mission by introducing innovative ideas.
• Keep abreast of current literature and present research findings in seminars and scientific conferences in related research fields, such as protein biochemistry, cell biology, microbiology, immunology pertaining to surveillance and diagnosis of infectious diseases.
• Design experiments and perform laboratory procedures to achieve specific aims and complete project deliverables.
• Keeps detailed record of experimental data, and perform data analysis, interpretation in a timely manner.
• Regularly communicate with project leader to provide research progress and share results with other scientists in the laboratory on collaborative projects.
• Assist in new research proposal development; draft technical reports, standard operating protocols, abstracts and manuscripts for publication.
• Present research data/surveillance findings in laboratory, departmental meetings, national and/or international conferences.
• Assists in training and supervising laboratory technical staff.
• Keep abreast with the current advancement in relevant research areas, especially in the surveillance and diagnostic areas.

• Ph.D. degree in biochemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, immunology, or related field.
• Individuals with less than 3 years of postdoctoral experience working in a relevant research field are encouraged to apply.
• The applicant should have good oral and written communication skills, the capacity to quickly develop good understanding of new research areas, critical interpretation of experimental data and the ability to work independently but also as a team member.
• The candidate will be required to acquire, at a minimum, a SECRET classification access level. Preference will be given to a candidate who already has this clearance level.
• Due to Federal contract requirements, US citizenship is required.

• Strong analytical skills and ability to troubleshoot complexed research problems are desirable.
• Prior research experiences in rickettsia diseases including whole cell antigen culture and purification are highly desirable.
• Previous experience in immunological assays, sequencing technologies, bioinformatic analysis and/or Geographic Information System are preferred.
• Familiarity with HIPAA, PHI/PII compliance, etc. is highly desired.