Job Description

Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine invites applications for: Manager, Brain Bank Singapore Brain Bank Singapore was launched in November 2019, a joint enterprise between LKCMedicine/Nanyang Technol Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine invites applications for: Manager, Brain Bank Singapore Brain Bank Singapore was launched in November 2019, 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 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. The role will be ideal for a neuroscience researcher who wishes to make a move into research management whilst still maintaining a link with the research community. Job 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. . Organisations offering ethical and legal guidance on brain/tissue retrieval, including ethics committees across different Institutional Review Boards to harmonise the consent-taking procedure, tissue banking regulatory units and the Ministry of Health. . Research governance and data protection at LKCMedicine to establish and/or clarify documentation and procedures relevant to the Brain Bank. . Programme Directors and Centre Clinical teams across different sites in Singapore to better direct, identify, and implement improvements in the daily and longer-term workings of 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. . Legal department to draft Agreements between external parties and the Brain Bank. . 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 developingt of brain/tissue banking. Management of work at Tissue Bank . Manage 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. . Overseeing the running and updating of the clinical database together with the clinical teams. . Setting up 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. . Setting up and running sample and image database for a well-documented tissue repository for clinical and scientific research. . Ensure 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. . Developing and maintaining the Brain Bank website and other channels of communication to ensure maximum exposure and transparency. . Developing outreach programmes to drive community awareness of the Brain Bank and the importance of human brain tissues for neurological research. . Designing a mechanism for communicating the progress of the Brain Bank with prospective donors and their families. . 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 Academic. . Maintaining the tissue bank collections and developing new ones in accordance with research needs. . Carrying out the dissection of the brains and overseeing the preparation, storage and further processing of the material, including supervising a routine histopathological analysis of all incoming 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. . Maintaining the workflow, and, if necessary taking part in different work activities when the need arises (assisting technicians or the administrator). . Organising educational visits and courses (including course material) for lay persons, students and healthcare professionals concerning the work of the Brain Bank. . Work outside usual hours where 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 . Master or PhD degree in Neuroscience / Biomedical Sciences with 3 - 5 years of work experience. . Team building and management skills, including the ability to apply project management principles in accordance with the School's standards. . Flexibility and experience to tackle problems at different levels as required by the workflow (from technical to managerial level). . Marketing skills. . Knowledge of computer processing and presentation packages. . Use of databases. . Good working knowledge of neurodegenerative disease pathology and pathogenesis. . Experience and knowledge of experimental work in the field of neurodegenerative diseases. . Ability to exercise initiative and supervise the work of junior scientists. . Effective oral and written communication skills, and the ability to interact effectively with people at all levels in both clinical and non-clinical environments.