Professional Specialist- Instrumentation Engineer

Princeton University - Princeton, NJ

Full-time - Entry Level

Princeton, NJ

Educational Services

About the position

The Professional Specialist- Instrumentation Engineer position at Princeton University is an exciting opportunity for individuals experienced in building scientific instrumentation, particularly in the context of neuroscience research. This role is part of the NIH BRAIN CONNECTS project, a transformative initiative under the US BRAIN Initiative aimed at generating comprehensive wiring diagrams of mammalian brains across various scales. A significant aspect of this project involves a ten-year endeavor to image a mouse brain using a fleet of advanced microscopes, ultimately producing an exabyte of images that will be processed to reconstruct an estimated 100 million neurons and 100 billion synapses, thereby yielding the first mammalian connectome. The Princeton Neuroscience Institute plays a pivotal role in the BRAIN CONNECTS project and is a key participant in the international CONNECTS consortia focused on the mouse connectome. The Institute is uniquely equipped with both transmission and scanning electron microscopy instruments for high-throughput connectomics and has recently led the FlyWire Consortium, which achieved the first connectome of an adult brain, specifically that of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. The ambitious goal of this position is to scale up the imaging efforts by 10,000 times to encompass the mouse brain. As an Instrumentation Engineer, the successful candidate will be instrumental in constructing and testing advanced image acquisition technologies necessary for this groundbreaking project. Responsibilities will include assisting in the construction of a custom ion beam milling apparatus (IBEAM), integrating it with a multibeam scanning electron microscope (mSEM), and utilizing the integrated system to collect image data from the mouse hippocampal formation, a critical area for memory and spatial navigation. The role requires close collaboration with Professors Tank and Seung at Princeton, as well as with consortium collaborators, to ensure the successful execution of this ambitious scientific endeavor.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the assembly of an IBEAM apparatus, including procurement of commercial components and working with machinists for custom components.
• Integrate components such as vacuum chambers, electron and ion guns, and sample transfer robots into a working system.
• Optimize the MultiSEM for robustness and high-speed acquisition, collaborating with an interdisciplinary team and Zeiss engineers.
• Conduct comprehensive evaluations of IBEAM-mSEM performance and troubleshoot technical challenges to enhance instrumentation performance.
• Contribute to data collection for test samples and the mouse hippocampal formation, managing large volume datasets.

Requirements

• PhD degree in Physics, Applied Physics, Electrical Engineering, or a closely related field.
• 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 attention to technical details.
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with LabVIEW or other software for measurement and control.
• Familiarity with electron microscopy and light microscopy techniques.
• Prior experience in laboratory or project management.
• Experience in robotics.

Benefits

• Full-time position with the possibility of renewal based on performance.
• Opportunity to work on a transformative neuroscience project.
• Collaboration with leading experts in the field.