Come Work With Us At The Kellogg Eye Center
WE ARE LOOKING FOR UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCHER(S) STARTING IN SUMMER OF 2024, WITH HOPE THAT THIS CANDIDATE WILL STAY WITH US THROUGH THE UPCOMING ACADEMIC YEAR. IF INTEREST, CONTACT KAITLYN DIGSBY WITH RESUME, YOUR GOALS FOR THE EXPERIENCE, AND AVAILABILITY.
The Kellogg Eye Center, Department of Ophthalmology is one of the largest eye research departments in the country. We have a modern lab layout, with open bays, which really does facilitate communication between labs. We collaborate with numerous other labs in the institute, and these interactions are critical for the team-based approach we take to science.
LAB PHILOSOPHY
The job satisfaction of lab members is paramount, and all efforts, within reason, will be made to adjust to each individual's needs.
Input from lab members is critical for important lab decisions, and Jason will actively seek out opinions of those in the lab (including ideas for improving management style and mentorship).
We operate as a team, meaning that we (including Jason) will pitch in to help with tasks that are least desirable but necessary for lab success.
No matter their level of experience, lab members will think critically about their experimental results and form their own "take-aways" before sharing with others and asking their opinion.
Our goal is to do meaningful science that we believe will improve the lives of patients. Reproducibility is paramount. Public recognition should not be the primary driver of our science.
LAB METHODS
We are experts in primary culture of finicky retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) from pigs, cows, and humans. We are emerging experts in human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) RPE cultures as well. This includes transfection, viral transduction, and, in the near future, CRISPR editing.
We have significant experience in basic and advanced fluorescence microscopy methods.
We utilize standard cell biology methods, including Western blotting, ELISA, qPCR, fluorometric assays with a plate reader, and some FACS.
We do a small amount of work in animal models, mainly for testing of promising drug candidates.
We are trying to build our expertise in image analysis and data analysis with R.
We are striving to deploy both lipidomic and transcriptomic analysis to our research.
Finally, mainly via collaboration, we have begun metabolism and metabolomics analysis in our cultures.