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Research Scientist - Cancer Biology

Employer
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Location
Houston, Texas
Salary
Competitive
Closing date
Apr 13, 2022

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Discipline
Health Sciences
Organization Type
Healthcare/Hospital

Job Details

MISSION STATEMENT

The Cancer Biology department has a long history of being a leader in the field of basic and translational cancer biology research. The department emphasizes the training of students, postdoctoral fellows and clinical fellows in the fundamentals of tumor biology to improve the outcomes of patients with malignancies. The department has built a program with close ties to many clinical departments to facilitate information exchange between the laboratory and the clinic. As such, faculty in the department are investigators on NIH funded collaborative cancer biology research grants. In addition, there are several physician-scientists who have joint appointments in Cancer Biology, facilitating the exchange of clinically-relevant information between the laboratory and the clinic.

SUMMARY

The primary purpose of the Research Scientist is to work independently in a highly productive laboratory and to conduct research related to overcome immune suppressive tumor microenvironment, define tumor intrinsic resistance mechanisms to immunocheckpoint therapy and identify synthetic lethal targets in a number of cancer types, including brain cancer, colon cancer and prostate cancer.

The Research Scientist is expected to conduct both cell culture work and animal studies using many different types of models, including 2D, 3D culture systems, organoids, PDX, GEMM and rapid ES-derived GEMM, among others. In addition, it is expected that the Research Scientist will gain expert level skills for various techniques required to address a scientific question, including CyTOF, imaging-CyTOF, scSeq, other omics and downstream bioinformatic analysis in consultation with in house computational scientists.

As the goal of our research projects are translational, we expect that the Research Scientist will actively participate in collaborations with outstanding clinicians to potentially move the bench discoveries to the clinics as exemplified by several ongoing clinical trials in prostate cancer and colon cancer. Finally, the Research Scientist are expected to support PI's grant application as well as writing reviews and manuscripts through which the Research Scientist will present at both Local and National meetings. The position requires independent decision making, judgment and organizational skills.

Recent publications (Zhao et al., Nature 2017; Lu et al., Nature 2017; Hu et al., Cell 2016; Liao et al., Cancer Cell 2019; Chen et al., Cancer Cell 2019; Zhao et al., Cancer Discovery 2020; Hou et al., Cancer Discovery 2020).

JOB SPECIFIC COMPETENCIES

Lab Studies

Performing laboratory studies using complex techniques (e.g. nucleic acid extraction, PCR, immunoblotting, immunocytochemistry and immunohistochemistry) as well as tissue culture (maintaining mammalian cells, growth assays). Presents data for analysis. In addition, both transgenic mice and transplantation animal model, PDX etc are heavily used in the lab.

Experiment Design

Assists the principal investigator with design of experiments.

Equipment maintenance

Responsible for equipment maintenance and coordinating repair of malfunctioning units for lab.

Orders supplies

Orders and organizes supplies (including tissue culture medium) as needed.

Project results

Compiles, writes and submits project results to PI.

Study Immune Suppressive Microenvironment and Define Optimal Therapeutic Approach for Patient Translation

Imaging CyTOF and CyTOF, FACS analysis will be used extensively to document the effect of various oncogenic events on tumor microenvironment using various animal models, i.e. colon cancer, prostate cancer and brain cancer.

Synthetic lethal screening

Targeted screening will be performed to define targets that enhance immune checkpoint effect in vivo. In addition, synthetic lethal screening will be performed on the above cancer types to identify novel therapeutic targets followed by validation in clinical samples.

Education

Required: PhD in one of the natural sciences or related field or Medical degree

Experience

Required: With PhD, no experience required. With Medical degree, two years of experience in experimental or scientific work.

It is the policy of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to provide equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or any other basis protected by institutional policy or by federal, state or local laws unless such distinction is required by law. http://www.mdanderson.org/about-us/legal-and-policy/legal-statements/eeo-affirmative-action.html

Company

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston is one of the world's most respected centers focused on cancer patient care, research, education and prevention. It was named the nation's No. 1 hospital for cancer care in U.S. News & World Report's 2023 rankings. It is one of the nation's original three comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute.

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