Research Assistant

Salary: Up to $80,000 (depending on experience) + 14% super + salary packaging  

Employment Type: 2 year fixed-term contract with possibility to extend 

SNAPSHOT OF BENEFITS 

• Generous salary packaging to save you income tax on your wages thereby boosting your monthly take home pay (max. $15,900 general expenses + $2,650 meals/accom) 

• Ample opportunities for on-going training and development 

• Stimulating, diverse and highly international research environment 

• Flexible work arrangements e.g. start / finish times  

• 18 weeks paid parental leave for both parents including paid superannuation 

• A range of additional leave types to meet your personal needs including cultural leave, conference leave, community service and study leave 

• Discounted Health Insurance 

• Lifestyle discounts with our community partners 

WHAT YOU WILL DO 

Depending on level of experience and requirements of the role, a Research Assistant is typically expected to:  

Scientific Excellence  

• Experimental Execution: Conduct experiments and analyses – including tissue culture, genotyping, and routine assays – while establishing and maintaining robust methods and protocols. 

• Optimisation: Review current protocols and relevant literature to identify opportunities to improve, optimise, or implement new research techniques. 

• Specialist Advice: Provide technical advice to researchers within the group regarding specific research methods, instruments, and analysis tools. 

• Data integrity: Ensure all research data is accurate, high-quality, and conforms to good scientific practice, ensuring it is accessible to other researchers as required. 

• Scientific Communication: Communicate experimental results to researchers and collaborators through written reports and effective visual formats. 

• Scholarly Contribution: Assist In the preparation of research papers and contribute content to grant applications and research proposals. 

Team Leadership 

• Mentorship & Training: Train students, postdocs, and peers on data collection, specialised instruments, and laboratory safety protocols. 

• Personal Growth: Take responsibility for own professional development by attending workshops and seeking to learn new techniques to support the group’s evolving research needs. 

• Team Collaboration: Work effectively as a reliable and approachable member of the research team, fostering a collaborative environment. 

Resources & Planning 

• Operational Management: Manage the group’s daily operations, including the coordination of consumables, samples, and equipment maintenance. 

• Lab Coordination: Manage internal communications, such as scheduling team meetings and research presentations. 

• Compliance & Outputs: Manage research data and outputs to ensure compliance with open access requirements of funding bodies and publishers. 

• Project Delivery: Balance the competing needs and timelines of multiple research projects within the lab and with external collaborators to meet deadlines. 

Institute Contributions 

• Values & Integrity: Demonstrate scientific and professional integrity at all times, acting as a role model for ethical behaviour. 

• Active Participation: Contribute to the wider institute community by participating in committees, outreach projects, or donor activities. 

Health & Safety and Risk Management 

• Comply with Garvan’s workplace polices (as amended from time to time) and especially Garvan’s Work Health & Safety (WHS) Policy, including working in accordance with the WHS management system at all times, as safety is Garvan’s number one priority. 

• Proactively identify, assess, and report operational, financial, and safety risks associated with the duties of this role. The incumbent is required to adhere to the organisation’s Risk Management Framework, ensure all activities are conducted in accordance with established policies and procedures, and contribute to a culture of continuous improvement by suggesting mitigation strategies for identified hazards or inefficiencies. 

ABOUT YOU 

The key skills and experience include: 

Essential 

• Bachelors’ Degree in Science or Medicine (preferably with Honours) 

• Relevant experience (at least 1 year) in cancer cell biology or immunology 

• Experience with animal models of disease 

• Experience with processing human samples 

• Experience with cell biology, immunofluorescence, imaging, flow cytometry 

• Molecular biology skills 

• Ability to rapidly learn new techniques 

• Results-oriented 

• Excellent time management and ability to prioritise tasks 

• Display innovative and proactive abilities 

• Comfortable with moderate decision making 

Desirable 

• Possess strong computing skills including basic bioinformatic analysis, particularly with regard to RNA-seq methodologies 

• Expertise/knowledge in the field of cancer immunology or tumour microenvironment  

ABOUT GARVAN 

Garvan Institute of Medical Research is an independent Medical Research Institute (MRI) in Sydney, delivering scientific and clinical impact on a global basis and in partnership with organisations that share our vision. We are proud to be one of Australia’s largest and most highly regarded MRI’s.  

Our vision is global leadership in discoveries to impact and our enduring purpose is to impact human health, by harnessing information encoded in our genome. 

We seek to see our world-class discovery research achieve life-changing impacts, not only for individual patients with rare diseases, but for the many thousands affected by complex, common disease. 

Garvan promotes a diverse workplace and is committed to the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging. We are always looking for culture ‘add’, not culture ‘fit’ and are building diverse teams with great sets of complementary styles and skills to help deliver our important work effectively.