Job Opportunity: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, National Cancer Institute – Cellular Immunotherapy & Transplantation, Bethesda, MD
The National Cancer Institute is recruiting a highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Fellow to develop new engineered T-cell therapies that can be integrated directly with allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) to reduce post-transplant malignancy relapse. Projects also will include mechanistic studies of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prevention in murine HCT models.
Allogeneic HCT is the only curative therapy for many hematologic malignancies and life-threatening but non-malignant hematologic diseases. The use of post-transplantation cyclophosphamide (PTCy) as GVHD prophylaxis recently has revolutionized the HCT field by making HCT available to nearly all patients and effectively preventing both severe acute and chronic GVHD. However, the mechanisms underlying PTCy’s clinical efficacy had been poorly understood until recent paradigm-shifting work performed in the laboratory of Dr. Christopher Kanakry (e.g., https://www.jci.org/articles/view/124218).
Even so, post-transplant malignancy relapse is the primary reason for failure of HCT. Work within the Kanakry Laboratory has identified ways to directly integrate other cellular therapies with PTCy-based HCT to reduce relapse without exacerbating GVHD. Simultaneously, Dr. Kanakry and his group are actively translating these new approaches and biologic understandings to the clinic in early phase clinical trials.
Requirements:
Candidates should have a PhD and/or MD degree. Substantial experience in relevant techniques, particularly T-cell discovery/engineering and flow cytometry, is preferred. The successful applicant will join the laboratory of Dr. Christopher Kanakry, Lasker Clinical Research Scholar/Tenure-Track Investigator, within the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. The Kanakry Laboratory utilizes cellular and molecular immunologic tools to address mechanistic and translational questions with direct relevance for improving outcomes of patients with hematologic malignancies in need of curative cellular therapies. The Kanakry Laboratory is within the newly formed Center for Immuno-Oncology (CIO), which has coalesced investigators from multiple research groups to create a vibrant and enriching environment for research in immunotherapy, transplantation, and cancer with ready access to numerous cutting-edge technologies. The selected applicant will interface closely with the mass cytometry core facility of the CIO and with other collaborators.
Information about Dr. Kanakry and his laboratory can be found at https://ccr.cancer.gov/Experimental-Transplantation-and-Immunotherapy-Branch/christopher-g-kanakry.
Applicants should contact Dr. Kanakry directly at christopher.kanakry@nih.gov.