Senior Research Technician/Lab Manager, McCormick Lab

How to Apply

A cover letter is required for consideration for this position and should be attached as the first page of your resume. The cover letter should address your specific interest in the position and outline skills and experience that directly relate to this position.

Mission Statement

The mission of the University of Michigan is to serve the people of Michigan and the world through preeminence in creating, communicating, preserving and applying knowledge, art, and academic values, and in developing leaders and citizens who will challenge the present and enrich the future.

Job Summary

The Lauren McCormick Lab investigates how the cell's microtubule cytoskeleton assembles, specializes, and evolves using both simulations and experiments. By studying these fundamental molecular machines, microtubules built from ?- and ?-tubulin proteins, the lab seeks to answer open questions about how microtubules adapt and specialize in human cells and across diverse organisms. We aim to uncover how tubulin mutations contribute to human diseases, filling key gaps in our understanding of microtubule function and cytoskeletal disorders. The Research Laboratory Technician Senior provides essential technical lab support by performing complex laboratory and research related tasks, and by acting as specialist on laboratory methods and equipment. Performs a variety of molecular biology techniques requiring a high degree of proficiency, also troubleshoots problems and recommends solutions. Evaluates experiment results using statistical analysis. May instruct graduate students and postdocs in laboratory techniques, instruments, and procedures.

The McCormick Lab is part of the Program in Biophysics. Biophysicists at Michigan are working in the fields of Structural Biology, Spectroscopy and Microscopy, Computational Biophysics and Bioinformatics, and Biophysical Chemistry. Approximately 80 graduate students, post-docs and professors work in our well-equipped laboratories. The graduate program offers a flexible curriculum of exciting courses related to these fields, taking advantage of the resources available at a major research University

Responsibilities*

• Perform research independently, providing data for manuscripts and grants.
• Supervise research projects by other lab members.
• Analyze data using statistical approaches to find statistically significant differences.
• Analyze, write up and present your work, and journal articles, at lab meeting.
• Assist and supervise graduate students and postdoctoral researchers with complex and research-related laboratory procedures like protein purification, plasmid preps, cell culture, western blotting, PCR, and SDS-PAGE electrophoresis.
• Maintain lab equipment, purchase lab supplies, restock the lab.
• Maintain routine cell cultures
• Manage inventory, ordering and record-keeping, negotiate and communicate with vendors.
• Maintain protocol repository
• Establish and pilot new techniques and methods in the lab, troubleshoot and write up protocols for those techniques, and train other lab members in new techniques.

Required Qualifications*

• Bachelor's Degree with 2-4 years' experience required. A strong interest in and commitment to advancing our understanding of cytoskeletal function is essential.
• Prior experience with protein purification (FPLC system) is required.
• Prior experience with nucleic acid extraction (plasmid preps, routine PCR)
• Prior experience with cell culture is required.

Desired Qualifications*

• Experience with baculovirus systems and insect cell culture. Experience with bacmid nucleic acid preps.
• Experience developing and troubleshooting protein purification workflows.
• Experience making competent cells and cell stocks

Why Work at Michigan?

In addition to a career filled with purpose and opportunity, the University of Michigan offers a comprehensive benefits package to help you stay well, protect yourself and your family and plan
for a secure future. Benefits include:

• Generous time off, including vacation time, sick time, holiday and season days
• A retirement plan that provides two-for-one matching contributions with immediate vesting
• Many choices for comprehensive health insurance
• Life insurance
• Long-term disability coverage
• Flexible spending accounts for healthcare and dependent care expenses

In addition, LSA offers:

• Strong commitment to work/life balance
• Flexible work arrangements with respect to campus stakeholder needs
• Enhanced tuition support programs for LSA courses

Being part of something greater, of serving a larger mission of discovery and care - that's the heart of what drives people to work at Michigan. In some way, great or small, every person here helps to advance this world-class institution. It's adding a purpose to your profession. Work at Michigan and become a victor for the greater good.

Modes of Work

Positions that are eligible for hybrid or mobile/remote work mode are at the discretion of the hiring department. Work agreements are reviewed annually at a minimum and are subject to change at any time, and for any reason, throughout the course of employment. Learn more about the work modes.

Work Schedule

40 hours per week, full-time, Monday through Friday.

Additional Information

As one of the world's great liberal arts colleges, LSA pushes the boundaries of what is understood about the human experience and the natural world, and we foster the next generation of rigorous and empathetic thinkers, creators, and contributors to the state of Michigan, the nation, and the world.

To learn more about LSA's Mission, Vision and Values, please visit lsa.umich.edu/strategicvision.

Background Screening

The University of Michigan conducts background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background checks. Background checks are performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Application Deadline

Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days. The review and selection process may begin as early as the eighth day after posting. This opening may be removed from posting boards and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended.

U-M EEO Statement

The University of Michigan is an equal employment opportunity employer.

276078

Senior Research Technician/Lab Manager, McCormick Lab

Research Lab Technician Lead

Ann Arbor Campus

Onsite

Full-Time

Regular

Nonexempt

College Of Lsa

LSA Biophysics

4/13/2026 - 4/20/2026

$42,000.00 - $51,750.00

Research