Experimental Postdoctoral Fellows in Cancer Biology/Immunology – Houston, Texas (US)

Experimental postdoctoral fellows in cancer biology/immunology of solid tumors, neural stem cells and cancer stem cells of brain tumors at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

The Laboratory:

Professor Yiwen Chen’s lab uses cutting-edge computational and experimental approaches to tackle research problems in cancer biology/immunology and neural development at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, ranked number one in cancer by U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals survey. His lab focuses on deciphering the cell signaling, epigenetic/epitranscriptomic and RNA-based regulation mechanism of cancer biology/immunology in solid tumors, neural stem cells and cancer stem cells of brain tumor. The Chen lab has great expertise in combining computational with high-throughput approaches such as single-cell multi-omics profiling (e.g., scRNA-seq and Perturb-seq), CRISPR/Cas9, mass spectrometry, ChIP-seq, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP)-seq, eCLIP-seq (enhanced CrossLinking and ImmunoPrecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing) and Ribosome Profiling (Ribo-seq), to decipher cryptic translation of the non-canonical open reading frames (ORFs) and/or noncoding RNA (ncRNA)/RNA-binding protein (RBP)-mediated regulatory circuitries.

The former postdoctoral trainees from the Chen lab have excelled in both academia and industry, including 4 past/current postdoctoral trainees from Chen lab who are/will become a faculty in U.S. or China.

Chen lab representative publications include:

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology (2023, PMC10716047), Science (2023, PMID: 37676964), Science Advances (2023, PMC10403220), The Journal of Clinical Investigation (2023, PMC9974104), Journal of Experimental Medicine (2021, PMC7543092), Genome Biology (2021, PMC8381491), The Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (2021, PMC7887353), Nature Methods (2018, PMC5967874), Nature Genetics (2017, PMID: 27841882), Nature Communications (2017, PMC5701008), and Trends in Genetics (2016, PMC4805481).

Job specifications:

The experimental postdocs will leverage the high-throughput assays developed/established in the lab to study the cell signaling, epigenetic/epitranscriptomic and RNA-based regulation that is important for tumor immunity in solid tumors, neural stem cells and cancer stem cells of brain tumors, as well as to develop T cell-based and/or combinatorial cancer immune therapies. The postdocs will be under joint supervision by Dr. Yiwen Chen and Dr. Jian Hu from Department of Cancer Biology at MD Anderson Cancer Center/Dr. Weiyi Peng from University of Houston.

Qualifications:

Applicants should have a Ph.D. degree (or equivalent) in biomedical sciences. Strong background in one or more of the following areas: molecular biology; protein/RNA biochemistry; transcriptional/epigenetic regulation; cell signaling; virology; immunology; T-cell biology; cancer biology. Mouse model experience and bioinformatics/genomics/proteomics expertise are not required, but highly desirable.

All applicants should have good spoken and written communication skills. Interested applicants should send 1) a cover letter briefly describing your previous experience and your future research interest/plan, 2) a curriculum vitae, and 3) contact information of at least three references to Dr. Yiwen Chen (ychen26@mdanderson.org).

It is the policy of 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

About MD Anderson
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston ranks as one of the world’s most respected centers focused on cancer patient care, research, education and prevention. The institution’s sole mission is to end cancer for patients and their families around the world. MD Anderson is one of only 51 comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). MD Anderson is ranked No. 1 for cancer care in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals survey. It has ranked as one of the nation’s top two hospitals for cancer care since the survey began in 1990 and has ranked first 16 times in the last 19 years. MD Anderson receives a cancer center support grant from the NCI of the National Institutes of Health (P30 CA016672).