Graduate Student Research Assistant resume example

· Methodologies for the design of integrated diagnostic protocols in quarantine laboratories: Specificity, sensitivity, post-test likelihood ratios, Bayesian analyses, cost-benefit of detection protocols.

· Serology: Bacterial antigen preparation. Intramuscular, parenteral and subcutaneous rabbit immunization. Serum titration by double immunodiffusion. Protein A purification of IgG. ELISA optimization.

· Primers and probes design and optimization of conventional, multiplex and qPCR protocols.

· Nucleic acid extraction and manipulation for routine (PCR, qPCR, q-rtPCR) and next generation analyses (16S-ITS based metagenomics; transcriptomic analyses by RNAseq).

· Metagenomics analysis (16S for Bacteria and Archaea and 18S for Eukarya) and RNAseq-based transcriptomics analysis.

· Microscopy skills: Bright-field, time-lapse, contrast phase, transmission electron microscopy, inverted fluorescence and confocal laser scanning microscopy. Staining and targeting of specific organisms, structures and molecules with fluorescent dyes and antibodies. Experience with NIS-Elements and Image J (COMSTAT plugin) software’s for automatic cell counting, object movement tracking, and 3-D objects image analysis (area, height, and volume quantifications from z-stacks).

· Cellular growth dynamics and cell viability assessment: CFU/ml, cell counts by microscopy, turbidity-based growth curves, alamarBlue® cell proliferation kit, PMA-qPCR, LIVE/DEAD cellular viability kits.

· Evaluation of antimicrobials agents by clinical guidelines and other methods: minimum inhibitory concentration, minimum bactericidal concentration, time to kill assays, biofilm inhibition, killing and disruption activities.

· Study of toxicity mechanisms of antimicrobials: Intra and extracellular reactive oxygen species quantification, lipid peroxidation, cell content release, cell membrane integrity assessment, metal solubilization.

· Assessment of intra and extracellular chemical element composition by ICP-OES.

· Microfabrication: Microfluidic design with AutoDesk software, wafer manufacture by soft photolithography and 3D printing, manual microchip assembly (glass/PDMS for microscopy and PDMS/PDMS for other assays) and microfluidic control with Harvard apparatus and similar.