Senior Technical Specialist- Instrumentation Engineer

at  Princeton University

INSTRUMENTATION ENGINEER

If you are experienced with building scientific instrumentation, and would like to apply your talents to map the brain, this position could be for you.
NIH BRAIN CONNECTS is a transformative project of the US BRAIN Initiative, with the overall goal of generating wiring diagrams that can span entire mammalian brains across multiple scales. A major component is a ten-year “moon-shot” that will image a mouse brain with a fleet of microscopes. The resulting exabyte of images will be processed to reconstruct an estimated 100 million neurons and 100 billion synapses, yielding the first mammalian connectome. The Princeton Neuroscience Institute is a key performer in BRAIN CONNECTS, and participates in both of the international CONNECTS consortia that have been assembled to tackle the mouse connectome. The Institute is the only site in the world that can boast of both transmission EM and scanning EM instruments for high-throughput connectomics. The Institute also leads the FlyWire Consortium, which in 2023 released the first connectome of an adult brain, that of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. This historic achievement is dwarfed by the ambitious goal of scaling up by 10,000 times to the mouse brain.
We are seeking a dynamic Instrumentation Engineer to help build the advanced image acquisition technologies required for this ambitious project. The Engineer will assist in the construction and testing of a custom ion beam milling apparatus (IBEAM), help integrate the apparatus with a multibeam scanning electron microscope (mSEM), and apply the integrated IBEAM-mSEM system to collect image data from the mouse hippocampal formation. The Engineer will work closely with Profs. David Tank and Sebastian Seung at Princeton and Consortium collaborators at HHMI Janelia, Harvard University, and Google Research to standardize experimental apparatus and data acquisition processes across multiple sites.
This full-time position has an initial appointment of one year and possibility of renewal based on satisfactory performance.

For more information, see these publications:

• John Ngai. BRAIN 2.0: Transforming neuroscience. Cell 185, 4-8 (2022).
• Ken Hayworth et al. Gas cluster ion beam SEM for imaging of large tissue samples with 10 nm isotropic resolution. Nat Methods 17, 68–71 (2020).
• Sven Dorkenwald et al. Neuronal wiring diagram of an adult brain. bioRxiv 2023.

Responsibilities:

ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS:

• Masters degree in Physics, Applied Physics, Electrical Engineering, or closely related field.
• 3 years of experience
• Proficiency in mechanical design, CAD software, computer interfacing, electronics, and vacuum systems.
• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot and evaluate instrument performance.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to procure parts efficiently.
• Strong problem-solving skills with a keen eye for technical details.
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• PhD in Physics, Applied Physics, Electrical Engineering, or closely related field.
• Experience with LabVIEW or other software for measurement and control.
• Electron microscopy
• Light microscopy
• Prior experience in laboratory or project management is desirable
• Experience in Robotics is a plus
  Princeton University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
  Standard Weekly Hours: 40.00 Eligible for Overtime: No Benefits Eligible: Yes Probationary Period: 180 days Essential Services Personnel (see policy for detail): No Estimated Appointment End Date: 4/1/2025 Physical Capacity Exam Required: No Valid Driver’s License Required: No : #LI-JJ

• Construction and Integration: Contribute to the assembly of an IBEAM apparatus; this involves procurement of commercial components; working with machinists and consultants for implementation of custom components; integrating components like vacuum chambers, electron and ion guns, and sample transfer robots into a working system. Technical Optimization: Optimize the MultiSEM for robustness and high-speed acquisition, collaborating closely with an interdisciplinary team and Zeiss engineers to enhance critical parameters..
• Instrumentation Performance Evaluation: Conduct comprehensive evaluations of IBEAM-mSEM performance, proactively troubleshooting technical challenges as they arise to contribute to continuous performance enhancement in instrumentation.
• Contribute to data collection for the test samples and the (HPF) mouse hippocampal formation, a critical brain region for memory and spatial navigation, volume dataset from the whole adult mouse brain that may exceed tens of petabytes.
  Qualifications: