Specimen Processing Laboratory Assistant

Employment Duration: 6 months

The Laboratory Assistant III processes specimens for the UCSF AIDS Specimen Bank. Specimens must be processed within hours of collection. The Specimen Bank also receives requests for specimens to be shipped to collaborators worldwide.

The position is responsible for receiving, processing, and inventorying freshly collected specimens, including data entry and barcode scanning; receiving and inventorying frozen specimens; occasional travel to an off-site facility less than 15 miles from the primary worksite for specimen storage and retrieval; accessing freezer alarms online 24/7; recording freezer temperatures and performing maintenance; making media and solutions; preparing and shipping frozen biological specimens; and entering data into a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS).

The Laboratory Assistant III also assists senior staff with specimen storage, laboratory equipment maintenance, and laboratory organization, including putting away supplies, cleaning countertops, and disposing of waste. This is an entry-level laboratory processing position.

Key Responsibilities:

• Process PBMCs, serum, plasma, urine, saliva, genital fluids, other body fluids, and tissues, and inventory samples into storage.
• Perform data entry in LDMS and/or spreadsheets.
• Retrieve specimens from various locations and consolidate specimen storage.
• Record and monitor freezers on and off site.
• Assist in preparing biohazardous shipments.
• Organize and clean laboratory work areas.
• Perform QC/QA of frozen samples for deposit into the biobank or outgoing shipments.
• Make sterile media and chemical solutions.
• Perform other duties as assigned.
• Acknowledge and address freezer alarm alerts.
• Address specimen mislabeling, data entry errors, and proper labeling of hazardous shipments.
• Address delayed or lost shipments to or from the Specimen Bank.
• Report failed freezers requiring repair to the supervisor.
• Report unacceptable specimens requiring specimen redraws or notification of the study coordinator to the supervisor.
• Report poor-quality Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cell (PBMC) isolations and findings to the supervisor.

Required Qualifications:

• High school graduation and three years of laboratory experience; or two years of college, including courses in the natural, physical, or social sciences, and two years of laboratory experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Ability to lift 30–40 pounds; frozen specimens are in heavy racks.
• Organization and written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to navigate to and from freezer facilities, such as Parnassus and Oyster Point in South City.
• Comfortable with email and accessing information from the internet.
• Ability to access the temperature monitoring system online remotely from home.
• Availability and ability to respond to after-hours freezer alarms/alerts at both Parnassus and the UCSF Oyster Point Warehouse Freezer Farm in South City.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience processing specimens.
• Experience handling and processing human biological specimens.
• Computer experience with general data entry systems.