As a laboratory animals research technician, you will research the phenotype and the function of mutant retina cells. To this end, you will use electroretinography, optic kinetic tracking (OKT), pupillometry, SD-OCT/SLO imaging, digital data and image processing, small surgical procedures, immunohistochemistry and cell and molecular biological tissue assays. You will apply (viral) gene therapy vectors and other candidate medicines on retina’s, in vivo, in experimental animals and on cultured iPSC-derived human retinal organoids, to test workability. Thus, you will do diagnostic analyses and execute molecular biological and cell biological analyses for different retina disease models. Thus, you will learn how to analyse and interpret datasets. You will support researchers in the group who need your analyses for their work.     

You are a motivated candidate who has finished Higher Laboratory Education (HLO) or has obtained a bachelor’s or master’s degree in biology (not a PhD), with eligibility in animal experimentation. You have demonstrable experience with animal experimentation and cell culture laboratory tasks, for instance with co-authorship in publications. For some of the experiments you need to have excellent observatory and reaction skills. You are accurate and have a knack for planning and organizing tasks. Lastly, you possess solid communication skills in English and preferably in Dutch.

Fixed-term contract: 1 year.

Initially, you will be appointed for one year, possibly to be tenured. Your salary is based on your research experience and your skills in planning and organizing. Specifically, this means your salary will be based on either scale 7 or 8 of the Collective Labour Agreement University Medical Centres.

Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC)

At the Leiden University Medical Center, we continuously work on improving patient care. We invest in groundbreaking, international research and work with the latest equipment. Together with our team of doctors, medical specialists, teachers, academic researchers and supporting staff, we aim for the best quality in health care, education and international research. And we need you to realize our goals!

Department of Ophthalmology (OOG), section Retinal Gene Therapy

You will work at the Department of Ophthalmology (OOG) in de section Retinal Gene Therapy and will use laboratories within the Department of Cell and Chemical Biology (CCB). These departments collaborate closely with one another. The research group works on developing new therapies for retina deficiencies and how to translate these therapies from lab research into clinical appliance.