Job Description

Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine invites applications for:

Manager, Brain Bank Singapore

Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) is looking for a full-time Manager for Brain Bank Singapore. Launched in November 2019, Brain Bank Singapore is a joint enterprise between LKCMedicine/Nanyang Technological University, the National Neuroscience Institution (NNI - SingHealth), National Healthcare Group (NHG) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. It aims to build up a collection of post-mortem human brains from people affected by neurological conditions and to provide vital tissue samples to researchers throughout Singapore and the wider region who are working towards understanding the mechanisms underlying disease processes. The Brain Bank Manager will play a key role in supporting the operations and logistics, the recruitment of donors, and the retrieval and characterisation of post-mortem brains. Together with the rest of the team, he/she will develop a public educational programme concerning the need of the research community for well-characterised human tissues for vital research into the causes and treatment of diseases affecting the brain. This position is ideal for a neuroscience researcher who wishes to make a move into research management whilst still maintaining a link with the research community.

Tasks and key responsibilities

The Manager will be an essential liaison point for all the internal and external stakeholders, including:

• Members of the lay community affected by neurological and psychiatric disorders (including people living with a disorder, their carers, and those registered on the donor scheme).
• Relatives of deceased donors - to liaise with family members of deceased donors in difficult situations that require particularly sensitive interactions.
• Patient organisations in Singapore to promote awareness of the importance of brain donation for research.
• Healthcare professionals with an interest in neurological and psychiatric conditions, to promote work of the Brain Bank and enlist help with promoting future Tissue Bank strategies.
• Tissue banking regulatory team from the Ministry of Health.
• Research governance and data protection at LKCMedicine to establish and/or clarify documentation and procedures relevant to the Brain Bank.
• Members of the Operations and Executive committees by submitting regular reports and clarifying different issues that may arise.
• Procurement and Finance departments to ensure the acquisition of goods and services required for efficient Brain Bank operations and to maintain timely payment to external vendors.
• Scientific research community to identify brain/tissue requirements of the scientific community at large and to fine tune tissue supply according to the current and future project requirements.
• Other brain/tissue banks to form a unique strategy for brain/tissue retrieval procedure and preservation, updating diagnostic criteria, promoting collaboration, and developing of brain/tissue banking.

Management of the work of the Tissue Bank

• Management of a team of 2 to 3 staff including regular meetings, problem solving sessions, and ensuring compliance with health and safety standards.
• Setting up and updating work standards (i.e. Standard Operating Procedures) in order to ensure consistent understanding of all procedures for tissue banking activities and proper records keeping for the optimal and timely supply of brain/tissue to researchers.
• Coordinating the removal and collection of post-mortem brain and spinal cord material from donors around Singapore in collaboration with staff from NUS Anatomy and the surgical pathology unit at SGH Academia.
• Carrying out the dissection of the brains and overseeing the preparation, storage and further processing of the material.
• Together with the Director of the Brain Bank, the manager will determine the level of analysis required and conduct screening of the material destined for different research projects.
• Organising the distribution of tissue to researchers. The manager will liaise with the end tissue users in order to develop the tissue dissection and storage protocol to suit a wide range of analytical techniques.
• Organising educational visits and courses (including course material) for lay persons, students and healthcare professionals concerning the work of the Brain Bank.
• Setting up and maintaining the Brain Bank Donors Registry and the Tissue Tracking Database for collected post-mortem human tissues in accordance with data protection governance of confidential information and the IT infrastructure of the school.
• Keeping all the regulatory paperwork, such as consent forms, IRB approval, Investigator site files, applications (e.g. tissue requests), and brain retrieval protocols organised and up to date.
• Ensuring compliance with the Medical (Therapy, Education and Research) Act (MTERA) and the Human Biomedical Research Act (HBRA) to streamline workflow for the coordination of tissue donation (consent and retrieval).
• Liaison (Point-of-Contact) for the correspondence and dissemination of information updates pertaining to regulatory requirements from MOH (Human Tissue Framework) in a timely manner to the Brain Bank committee.
• Together with the Donor Coordinator, developing and maintaining the Brain Bank website.
• Together with the Donor Coordinator, developing outreach programmes to drive community awareness of the Brain Bank and the importance of human brain tissues for neurological research.
• Communicating the progress of the Brain Bank with prospective donors and their families.
• Out of hours working when necessary.

Departmental responsibilities

• Organising and chairing group meetings.
• Contributing to the selection and recruitment of new staff.
• Supervising postgraduate and undergraduate research projects being carried out in the Brain Bank.
• Developing the Brain Bank\'s research strategy and identifying research topics of interest to tissue banking.
• Supporting other research groups to help them work with human tissues in research collaborations.

Skills & Qualifications

• PhD in Neuroscience / Biomedical Sciences
• 3 - 5 years\' work experience
• Team building and management skills, including the ability to apply project management principles in accordance with LKCMedicine and NTU standards.
• Flexibility and experience to tackle brain banking problems at different levels as required by the workflow (from technical to managerial level).
• Knowledge of computer processing and presentation packages (Microsoft Office experience and use of databases).
• Good academic knowledge of pathogenesis of neurological disorders (at PhD or MD level).
• Laboratory based experience of experimental work in the field of neurological disorders.
• The ability to exercise initiative and to supervise the work of younger scientists.
• Excellent presentation skills to professional and lay audiences.
• Effective oral and written communication skills, and the ability to interact effectively with people at all levels in both clinical and non-clinical environments.

Additional Information

Career Level

Manager

Qualification

Bachelor\'s Degree, Post Graduate Diploma, Professional Degree, Master\'s Degree

Years of Experience

3 years

Job Type

Full-Time

Job Specializations

,

Company Overview

About Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

A research-intensive public university, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has 33,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the Engineering, Business, Science, Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences, and Graduate colleges. It also has a medical school, the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, established jointly with Imperial College London.

NTU is also home to world-class autonomous institutes - the National Institute of Education, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Earth Observatory of Singapore, and Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering - and various leading research centres such as the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI) and Energy Research Institute @ NTU ( ).

Ranked amongst the world\'s top universities by QS, NTU has also been named the world\'s top young university for the past seven years. The University\'s main campus is frequently listed among the Top 15 most beautiful university campuses in the world and has 57 Green Mark-certified (equivalent to LEED-certified) buildings, of which 95% are certified Green Mark Platinum. Apart from its main campus, NTU also has a campus in Novena, Singapore\'s healthcare district.

Under the NTU Smart Campus vision, the University harnesses the power of digital technology and tech-enabled solutions to support better learning and living experiences, the discovery of new knowledge, and the sustainability of resources. For more information, visit www.ntu.edu.sg

Additional Company Information

Registration No.

200604393R

Company Size

More than 5000 Employees

Average Processing Time

30 days

Industry

Education

Benefits & Others

Dental, Education support, Medical, Sports (e.g. Gym), Regular hours, Mondays - Fridays, Business (e.g. Shirts)

Company photos

Singapore Post