Research Assistant I

Research Assistant I

The Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine department provides world-class comprehensive care of women with gynecologic cancers. As international leaders in the field, our physicians are driving innovations in cancer care through clinical trials, translational research, advanced surgical techniques and cancer prevention efforts.

Job Responsibilities

Clinical Research Specimen Processing Collects, processes, stores, and ships blood, tissue, and other body fluid specimens according to institutional and protocol specific guidelines. Assist in transportation of blood/tissue specimens between lab and clinic as needed by protocol. Collaborates with various MD Anderson lab personnel for the collection and processing of blood and tissue samples. Coordinates sample collection in Operating Room as needed per protocol including requesting and documenting chain of custody in institutional Biospecimen Information Management System (BIMS) program. Attend and provide specimens and clinical information to all tumor bank request from investigators. Assist in retrieval of pathology slides/blocks and mail as specified in protocols. Manages minimal risk protocols independently. Coordinates consenting process for GYN patients.

Quality Control of Specimens and Records Reviews and processes research charts for accuracy and completeness. Extracts clinical research data from source documents. Enters protocol-specific data points into the appropriate database. Reviews data forms for completeness and updates missing information or issues queries to other staff as needed. Communicates research data revision requests to the physician and/or clinical research staff for correction. Trains other members of research staff on database utilization and management. Develops and utilizes reports in Epic to filter inclusion and exclusion criteria per protocol to identify eligible study participants. Keeps detailed screening logs for study team and sponsor review. Assists with annual reviews, updates, and response data, and generates reports as requested. Collaborates with physician, study team, and departmental protocol administration team to complete financial and regulatory tasks as assigned. Keep and updates records on both excel and REDCap all banked and stored specimen collected from various GYN protocols. Ensures that records are properly maintained and consistently reflect the current status of the lab.

Laboratory Organization and Maintenance Initiates, facilitates, coordinates and provides support for variety of research projects in lab. Is actively involved in an ongoing process of acquiring new techniques, learning new reagents, modifying existing protocols and adapting them to our needs. Prepares the laboratory for safety inspections. Ensures that safety guidelines are strictly adhered to. Responsible for obtaining, maintaining, monitoring, and insuring safety compliance for IRB, ARB, biohazard and safety compliance for laboratory. Assists in maintaining equipment maintenance in the laboratory to include proper training for new personnel, establishing sign-up sheets, calling for repair when needed and keep-up with maintenance agreements and proper use of the equipment. Responsible for the initial training for protocols required training such as CORe, human subjects protection, GCP, consenting, BIMS, and handling & shipping of samples.

Education Required: Bachelor's degree

Education Preferred: Degree in a basic science

Experience Required: Major course work in one of the basic sciences.

Experience Preferred: Lab experience

No experience. It is the policy of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to provide equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or any other basis protected by institutional policy or by federal, state or local laws unless such distinction is required by law. http://www.mdanderson.org/about-us/legal-and-policy/legal-statements/eeo-affirmative-action.html