Imaging Technician

Job Type: Part-Time Remote, Evenings and Weekends

About the Position: We are seeking a dedicated and reliable undergraduate or master’s level student to join our histology team as a Part-Time Remote Imaging Technician. This role involves supporting our imaging workflow remotely during evenings and weekends. No prior experience is necessary—we provide full training and all the equipment you need to do the job from home.

Key Responsibilities:

• Assist in the imaging of immunofluorescent slides using the high-throughput ZEISS Axioscan 7 Microscope Slide Scanner.
• Manually adjust imaging areas and add focus points to ensure high-quality scans.
• Perform Quality Control (QC) checks after scans are completed by reviewing every image file for focus accuracy and scoring any tissue-related issues according to our in-house protocols.
• If any slide fails QC, set up rescans to ensure all slides meet our quality standards.
• Ensure meticulous attention to detail, maintaining high standards even with repetitive tasks.
• Set up scans to run overnight, ensuring everything is properly configured before logging off.

Critical Availability (Pacific Time):

• Must be available to set up overnight scans on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings. While the timing of the setup is flexible on these days, it is crucial that the scans run overnight.
• During weekdays, the evening shift typically begins after 5 PM, with some flexibility depending on workload.

Workload and Commitment:

• Typically, you will be responsible for imaging 150-250 slides per week, with an estimated commitment of 20-25 hours per week.

What We’re Looking For:

• Education: Current undergraduate or master’s level student (no specific major required).
• Experience: No prior experience in imaging or histology is necessary.
• Skills: Extreme attention to detail, reliability, and dedication to high-quality work. Ability to work independently and not cut corners, even with repetitive tasks.
• Availability: Must be available for evening shifts, specifically Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, to set up and run scans overnight and mornings to complete QC before new scans can be set up. Flexible weekday evening shifts after 5 PM are also required.

What We Offer:

• Competitive pay to ensure motivation and quality in your work.
• Comprehensive training and all necessary equipment to perform the job remotely, including a high-resolution screen, mouse, keyboard, and, if needed, a desk and chair.
• Opportunity to work with advanced imaging technology and gain valuable experience in a histology lab setting.

Our mission

Conception is a startup that aims to generate viable human eggs from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Successful development of our research could have many benefits, such as removing age limits on motherhood, allowing for easy screening of eggs with harmful genetic mutations, and allowing same-sex couples to reproduce. This has been done in mice, and now we are working to translate it to humans.

Our research

To accomplish our goal, we must derive human germ cells from iPSCs (human germ cell-like cells, hPGCLCs) that resemble both the transcriptional and epigenetic profile of in vivo germ cells (PGCs) that are able to enter meiosis and develop into viable human eggs. We create ovarian organoids that include ovarian somatic cells and germ cells to grow functional egg cells.

Example of a Typical Schedule for a Full 100-Slide Rack:

Morning:

• Loaded Slides & Preview Scans - done by histology team in person
  • Load 100 slides into the ZEISS Axioscan 7 Microscope Slide Scanner.
  • Set up the preview scan, which runs for approximately 6 hours.
  • (Note: The preview scan can be set up internally by the team.)

Afternoon/Evening: - done by remote imaging technician

• Scan Set Up:
  • Once the preview scan is complete, begin the scan setup.
  • This includes manually selecting all tissue areas for every slide and manually adding coarse and fine focus points.
  • Estimated time: 2-3 minutes per slide on average.
  • For 100 slides, this process will take approximately 3-5 hours.
• Run Full Scan:
  • Once the setup is complete, initiate the full scan.
  • The scan runs overnight, as it takes a significant amount of time to complete.

Next Morning: - during the weekday, histology team in person can help with this- during the weekend - must be covered by remote imaging technician

• Quality Control (QC):
  • First thing in the morning, perform QC on all slides. This process needs to be completed by 10 AM at the latest.
  • Open each image file, click through every imaged scene, and mark QC notes in the imaging spreadsheet.
  • Estimated time: ~30 seconds per slide.
  • For 100 slides, this process will take approximately 1 hour.
  • If any slides fail QC, additional time will be needed to set up rescans.

Come and work with us

We are well funded and well connected in Silicon Valley. We offer competitive pay, comprehensive training, all necessary equipment to perform the role remotely, and a collaborative research environment focused on meaningful results.

Equipment may include a high-resolution monitor, mouse, keyboard, and, if needed, a desk and chair.

If you are hardworking, exceptionally reliable, and aligned with our mission, we want to hear from you.

To learn more about our recent scientific progress, see https://www.conception.bio/science-and-updates/the-first-early-human-eggs-from-stem-cells