Research Assistant Position for Undergraduates During this Summer

Dr. Jeff Alberts’ Animal Behavior Lab is currently looking for undergraduate research assistants who are interested in working during this summer for our NIH-funded project to investigate the association between maternal gut microbiome and neurobehavioral development in mouse offspring in relevance to developmental disorders of human social functioning such as autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).

It has been reported that the gut and its microbial community have a powerful influence on the brain and behavior, particularly affecting anxiety-like and social behaviors. As transmission of microbiota from mothers to offspring begins perinatally, we study how disruptions by antibiotics in the maternal gut microbiome during the perinatal period can affect the offspring microbiome and alter the development of brain and sociality in the offspring.

Job duties include:

• Maintaining the mouse colony
• Fecal sampling from mice
• Scoring mouse behaviors
• Conducting behavioral tests under the supervision of our lab technician
• Assisting for DNA extraction, perfusion and PCR (for selected students)

 

Preferred qualifications:

• Animal behavior, Biology, Neuroscience, Psychology majors with an interest in animal research
• Highly motivated and responsible with great teamwork skills
• Interested in pursuing a graduate/professional degree

If interested, please contact Sayuri Kojima at skojima@indiana.edu