Research Engineer II

Overview

Georgia Tech prides itself on its technological resources, collaborations, high-quality student body, and its commitment to building an outstanding and diverse community of learning, discovery, and creation. We strongly encourage applicants whose values align with our institutional values, as outlined in our Strategic Plan. These values include academic excellence, diversity of thought and experience, inquiry and innovation, collaboration and community, and ethical behavior and stewardship. Georgia Tech has policies to promote a healthy work-life balance and is aware that attracting faculty may require meeting the needs of two careers.

About Georgia Tech

Georgia Tech is a top-ranked public research university situated in the heart of Atlanta, a diverse and vibrant city with numerous economic and cultural strengths. The Institute serves more than 45,000 students through top-ranked undergraduate, graduate, and executive programs in engineering, computing, science, business, design, and liberal arts. Georgia Tech's faculty attracted more than $1.4 billion in research awards this past year in fields ranging from biomedical technology to artificial intelligence, energy, sustainability, semiconductors, neuroscience, and national security. Georgia Tech ranks among the nation's top 20 universities for research and development spending and No. 1 among institutions without a medical school.

Georgia Tech's Mission and Values

Georgia Tech's mission is to develop leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute has nine key values that are foundational to everything we do:

1. Students are our top priority.
2. We strive for excellence.
3. We thrive on diversity.
4. We celebrate collaboration.
5. We champion innovation.
6. We safeguard freedom of inquiry and expression.
7. We nurture the wellbeing of our community.
8. We act ethically.
9. We are responsible stewards.

Over the next decade, Georgia Tech will become an example of inclusive innovation, a leading technological research university of unmatched scale, relentlessly committed to serving the public good; breaking new ground in addressing the biggest local, national, and global challenges and opportunities of our time; making technology broadly accessible; and developing exceptional, principled leaders from all backgrounds ready to produce novel ideas and create solutions with real human impact.

About The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University has a student body of 1,200 undergraduates, 260 graduate students, and 70 primary and 73 program faculty. In 2023 US News Graduate Program Rankings placed the department as the #1 ranked department in BME in the United States and our Undergraduate Program as the # 2 department in the United States. Since its beginning, the unique partnership between two of the nation's leading public and private entities has been an innovation engine for research and education. Combining the engineering and medical strengths at Georgia Tech and Emory, we are focused on solving some of the toughest problems facing our state, the nation, and the world. It has been consistently ranked the #2 BioE/BME program for the past decade and is part of a vibrant biomedical community in Atlanta that includes the Emory School of Medicine, Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Winship Cancer Institute, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA), Georgia Immunoengineering Consortium, Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology, Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, and more. This rich scientific environment provides unique and unparalleled research opportunities, including seminars given by leaders in science and engineering from throughout the U.S. and abroad, opportunities for collaborations, exposure to distinct research programs, and sophisticated core facilities.

Atlanta, GA

The Kwong lab in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology invites applications for a non-tenure track research faculty position in Laboratory for Synthetic Immunity.

The Laboratory for Synthetic Immunity (LSI) is an interdisciplinary research group in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech & Emory School of Medicine. Founded in 2014 by Director Dr. Gabe Kwong, the mission of LSI is to pioneer the next wave of immunotherapies and diagnostics to intercept diseases at an early stage and develop treatments that drive deep responses to meaningfully improve patient outcomes. We are currently seeking exceptional individuals to join our research group as a Research Scientist II. The successful candidate will be a motivated and creative individual that will pioneer new categories of immune biosensors that leverage design principles from synthetic biology and cell engineering for early cancer detection. They will take a lead role in experimental design, execution of experiments, and interpretation of results to achieve the major objectives of the project. The successful candidate will thrive on teamwork and collaboration. They will embrace a fast-paced environment and work closely with lab members to cultivate a positive and inclusive environment. This is a unique opportunity to join a well-funded research group with a track-record of academic excellence, breakthrough innovation and technology translation.

• Work closely with the director and lab members in experimental design, bench and animal studies.
• Play a lead role in regular internal project meetings and data reviews.
• Provide research expertise to aid lab trainees including graduate students, and undergraduates to achieve their research objectives and degree milestones.
• Work with the lab director and university officials in grant administration, project budgets, and scientific reporting.
• Play a lead role in drafting manuscripts and grant applications.

• A Master's degree and three (3) years of relevant full-time experience after completion of that degree, or
• A Master's degree and five (5) years of relevant full-time experience after completion of a Bachelor's degree, or
• A Doctoral degree.

• Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, Bioengineering, Immunology, or related fields with deep expertise in cancer immunology and/or biosensors.
• Expertise in the design and testing of sense-and-respond biocircuits for cancer therapy or diagnostics.
• Proficiency in cell and molecular biology techniques including sterile technique, cell culture, chromatography, electrophoresis, and flow cytometry.
• Proficiency in animal studies including live animal imaging, animal handling and drug administration, necropsy and cell isolation.
• Skilled in molecular cloning, lentivirus production, T cell transduction, protein production and purification.
• Experience with T cell isolation, tumor inoculation; isolation, and dissociation of mouse tumor xenografts.
• Experience with qPCR, next-generation sequencing (NGS) library preparation, NGS data analysis is plus.
• Proficiency with statistical software like SPSS and/or GraphPad Prism.
• Excellent organizational, communication, time-management, and collaboration skills are required.
• Demonstrated desire to mentor graduate and/or undergraduate students.

• CV/Resume
• Cover letter

Dr. Gabe Kwong, Associate Professor, Wallace H. Coulter Distinguished Faculty Fellow syntheticimmunity@gmail.com

The University System of Georgia is comprised of our 26 institutions of higher education and learning as well as the System Office. Our USG Statement of Core Values are Integrity, Excellence, Accountability, and Respect. These values serve as the foundation for all that we do as an organization, and each USG community member is responsible for demonstrating and upholding these standards. More details on the USG Statement of Core Values and Code of Conduct are available in USG Board Policy 8.2.18.1.2 and can be found on-line at https://www.usg.edu/policymanual/section8/C224/#p8.2.18_personnel_conduct.

Additionally, USG supports Freedom of Expression as stated in Board Policy 6.5 Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom found on-line at https://www.usg.edu/policymanual/section6/C2653.

The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. The University is committed to maintaining a fair and respectful environment for all. To that end, and in accordance with federal and state law, Board of Regents policy, and University policy, Georgia Tech provides equal opportunity to all faculty, staff, students, and all other members of the Georgia Tech community, including applicants for admission and/or employment, contractors, volunteers, and participants in institutional programs, activities, or services. Georgia Tech complies with all applicable laws and regulations governing equal opportunity in the workplace and in educational activities.

Georgia Tech prohibits discrimination, including discriminatory harassment, on the basis of race, ethnicity, ancestry, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, disability, genetics, or veteran status in its programs, activities, employment, and admissions. This prohibition applies to faculty, staff, students, and all other members of the Georgia Tech community, including affiliates, invitees, and guests. Further, Georgia Tech prohibits citizenship status, immigration status, and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, and recruitment, except where such restrictions are required in order to comply with law, regulation, executive order, or Attorney General directive, or where they are required by Federal, State, or local government contract.

More information on these policies can be found here: https://www.usg.edu/policymanual/section6/c2714 Board of Regents Policy Manual | University System of Georgia (usg.edu).

The candidate of choice will be required to pass a pre-employment background screening. http://policylibrary.gatech.edu/employment/pre-employment-screening.