Research Technician - Gonzalez Lab
Primary Work Address: 1550 4th Street, Suite 190, San Francisco, CA, 94158-0724
The Gonzalez Lab at UCSF is seeking a Research Technician to join a multidisciplinary neuroscience team studying how the brain controls communication, social behavior, and sleep. The lab combines animal behavior, high-density electrophysiology, optical imaging, closed-loop stimulation, machine learning, and custom instrument development to understand neural circuit dynamics in birds and humans.
About the role:
This is a hands-on research position for someone who is motivated by both engineering and biology. The Research Technician will help run experiments, care for and handle birds, build and maintain experimental systems, collect and organize behavioral and neural data, and contribute to analysis workflows.
What we provide:
- A creative neuroscience lab studying vocal communication, sleep, social behavior, and neural dynamics.
- Direct training in animal behavior, experimental design, neural recording, stimulation, imaging, data analysis, and research operations.
- Opportunities to build custom tools using 3D printing, CNC machining, electronics, microcontrollers, audio/video synchronization, and computer-controlled behavioral systems.
- State-of-the-art resources, including high-density electrophysiology, advanced optical imaging, confocal and light sheet microscopy, and high-capacity computational analysis.
- A lab culture that values initiative, technical rigor, careful record keeping, collaboration, and responsible use of modern software tools.
- A highly interdisciplinary research environment at UCSF.
- A Bay Area location with competitive salary and access to San Francisco, the coast, and Silicon Valley.
What you’ll do:
- Assist with zebra finch behavioral experiments, including animal handling, daily monitoring, husbandry support, and coordination with approved animal-care protocols.
- Operate and maintain experimental systems for audio, video, neural recording, stimulation, and behavioral monitoring.
- Build, modify, and troubleshoot laboratory instruments using 3D printing, CNC machining, electronic prototyping, microcontrollers, sensors, cameras, microphones, and custom software.
- Collect, verify, organize, and document behavioral, audio, video, electrophysiology, imaging, and experimental metadata.
- Use software tools such as Python, MATLAB, ImageJ/FIJI, Arduino or related microcontroller environments, and AI-assisted coding workflows.
- Help develop and test analyses for birdsong, motif structure, sleep-state decoding, closed-loop experiments, and human EEG/natural speech datasets.
- Prepare figures, summaries, quality-control reports, and basic analyses.
- Maintain inventories, organize shared lab spaces, track equipment status, support routine maintenance.
- Participate in laboratory meetings, planning sessions, and literature discussions.
What you bring:
- Bachelor of Science degree in neuroscience, biology, engineering, computer science, physics, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and related work experience.
- Strong interest in both engineering and biology.
- Some laboratory, animal-care, engineering, computational, electronics, maker-space, or research experience preferred.
- Basic programming or data-analysis experience, ideally in Python, MATLAB, R, Arduino, or related tools.
- Comfort learning unfamiliar systems, troubleshooting equipment.
- Ability to keep accurate records, follow protocols, document decisions, and communicate progress and problems clearly.
- Ability to work inclusively and collaboratively with a diverse population.
- A serious interest in scientific discovery.
- Reliability, attention to detail, curiosity.
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