Work Study Position - Biology Teaching Lab Support Technician

We are recruiting Work Study undergraduate student employees to assist with setup of Biology Dept Lab Courses in the ISB for Fall 2025.  In this position, you will experience behind-the-scenes activities that support lab experiments in a teaching laboratory environment and accomplish basic prep work for lab exercises. You will be participating in weekly meetings to discuss, practice, and implement best practices in preparing samples and setting up intuitive workflows for experiments. 

You will mostly be pipetting and labeling "aliquots" of liquid reagents, refilling pipette tips and processing consumables for sterilization, and assisting with set up and take down of lab workstations.
Duties may include weekly checks on safety equipment (flushing eyewash stations), stocking supplies, refilling consumables for sterilization (tips, tubes, beads, toothpicks), preparing simple solutions, setting up lab stations with instruction, collecting dirty glassware, washing glassware, autoclaving waste, tidying lab areas, and other duties as assigned.

Hourly rate of pay: minimum wage
Shift: Mornings preferred most days, especially interested in Friday availability
Total hours per week:  5-10 hours (depends on your Work Study allotment)
Work study funding is a requirement: Yes.

You Must have Work Study Funds already approved for Fall 2025 (via Financial Aid) and Must provide evidence of your awarded amount to schedule an interview for the position, in the event you may be invited to do so.
 

Name of research group, project, or lab
ISB Biology Teaching Labs
Why participate in this opportunity?

This is a good opportunity to learn practical laboratory skills that can open doors to future positions in research labs, hospitals and in industry. 

Logistics Information:
Subject Category
Biology
Cellular Biology
Genetics
Genomics
Microbiology
Molecular Biology
Student ranks applicable
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Student qualifications

We Will Train You!  Also required: Ability to lift objects up to 20 pounds, communicate clearly, consistently arrive on time for planned meetings and group work sessions and have a strong willingness to learn new skills.

Experience in lab courses, or any level of lab work, is preferred. If possible, previous experience pipetting liquids and/or performing sterile culture would be excellent qualifications.

You Must be ready to provide documentation of your Financial and Work Study award amount for Fall 2025 (and /or Spring 2026).

Time commitment
5-7 h/wk
Position Types and Compensation
Service - Paid, Work-Study Required
Number of openings
4
Techniques learned

While we're looking for students to assist with a variety of upper-level teaching labs for the Biology Department (and more!) - you will be most likely to do work to support Genetics Labs (BIO284), Gene & Genome analysis (BIO383H), and/or Bioimaging (BIO477H). You may be preparing for experiments with cell cultures (yeast, insect, or immortalized mouse or human cancer cells), genotyping projects (yeast and Dog), DNA transformation (getting cultured cells to express customized genetic material), and /or microscopy-based imaging of live and/or fixed cells. 
You will likely be helping set up for (and perhaps assist with troubleshooting) genomic DNA extractions, PCR amplification of DNA segments of interest, DNA gel electrophoresis, generating and characterizing yeast mutants, brightfield and fluorescence-based microscopy, and genotyping DNA samples from students' dogs to examine the genetics of canine coat color. [optional: If you have a dog you'd like to have students work with for this project in Genetics Lab, please let us know!]

Project start
Fall Semester 2025
Contact Information:
Mentor
mpackard@umass.edu
ISB Biology Teaching Labs Support Technician/Instructor
Name of project director or principal investigator
Mary Packard
Email address of project director or principal investigator
mpackard@umass.edu
4 sp. | 6 appl.
Hours
5-7 h/wk
Project categories
Molecular Biology (+5)
BiologyCellular BiologyGeneticsGenomicsMicrobiologyMolecular Biology