Southern California HERC

The Comparative Medicine department is seeking a motivated and eager Animal Lab Tech I to join their team!

The Department of Comparative Medicine is dedicated to the facilitation of biomedical research utilizing animals, while striving to maintain the highest quality of ethical, humane and appropriate animal care. The Department is committed to continuing to improve the quality of services provided to research investigators for the purpose of improving the health of humans and animals. We support groundbreaking research with consultation, training, veterinary care, and facility maintenance services. To learn more, please visit Comparative Medicine | Cedars-Sinai.

Are you ready to be a part of groundbreaking research?

The Animal Lab Technician I (ALTI) is an entry level position for technicians with less than one year of experience in the husbandry of laboratory animals. Job responsibilities include knowledge and application of relevant laboratory animal medicine standards, rules, and regulations and performing animal husbandry tasks under direct or indirect supervision. These tasks include but are not limited to performing daily animal health checks, daily cage assessment, cage changing, primary enclosure wash and disinfection, maintenance of animal rooms and comprehension and application of standard operating procedures (SOP) to prevent cross contamination of colony animals and equipment.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

• Sanitizes primary enclosures either by cage changing (e.g. rodents) or enclosure wash and disinfection (e.g. swine and canine) including high pressure washing, disinfectant handling and waste management.
• Assists in routine and special feeding, watering, handling (safely transferring animals from one enclosure to another) and changes cages and sanitizes primary enclosure for all species housed in the vivarium.
• Follows written and verbal instructions to provide special diets and medicated water to animals in the vivarium.
• Provides care for both immune-competent and immune-compromised animals, which may also be designated as biohazardous or chemically hazardous.
• Provides a basic assessment of animal general appearance, clinical signs, and behavior to recognize normal vs abnormal conditions in animals.
• Reports abnormal conditions in animals to the clinical team for further assessment, including overcrowding and non compliances related to animal welfare and health.
• Assists clinical and research staff with animal handling and basic treatments of all rodents (teeth trimming, separation, euthanasia).
• Performs veterinary related tasks post training by Clinical Staff and maintains clinical records as required; rodent breeding tasks may be performed as needed.
• Provides species-specific environmental enrichment to animals according to Comparative Medicine standards.
• Assists with animal receiving as instructed by the Animal Care Coordinator.
• Monitors animal room environmental parameters (e.g. temperature, photoperiods, and humidity), accurately records environmental data and reports abnormalities to ALTIII or Supervisor.
• Assists the ALTIII and/or area Supervisor with vivarium support tasks including but not limited to Reverse Osmosis/Deionized water system checks, Individual Ventilated Cage rack cycling, and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and feed and bedding inventory audits.

Education:

• A High School Diploma/GED is required. A bachelor's degree is preferred with relevant coursework in laboratory animal sciences.

Licenses and Certifications:

• Assistant Laboratory Animal Tech (ALAT) from the AALAS is preferred.
• Valid and current driver's license is required.

Experience and Skills:

• One (1) year of animal husbandry experience is preferred.
• Ability to learn, apply and maintain compliance with the rules and regulations governing the care and use of animals in research.
• Ability to provide and/or support a level of work excellence and accuracy; recognize and address flaws or errors that others may overlook. Ability to document tasks in an orderly, timely, and accurate manner.
• Ability to convey and/or receive written/verbal information to/from various audiences in different formats.
• Able to follow written and oral instructions in English.
• Ability to handle multiple demands and/or manage complex and competing priorities.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Windows, ability to learn other systems that support operations in the vivarium.
• Collaborates to problem solve and make decisions to achieve desired outcomes.
• Establishes effective working relationships with cross-functional team(s).
• Cultivates and maintains strong customer relationships and rapport with stakeholders and/or client groups.
• Shares knowledge, time, and expertise to assist other members of the team.
• Ensures practices and procedures are inclusive of interpersonal and cultural diversity.
• Identifies and responds appropriately to both internal and external customer needs utilizing available resources.