Postdoctoral Researcher @ The Laboratory for Cell Death Research & Therapy (CDRT)

The Laboratory for Cell Death Research & Therapy (CDRT), headed by Patrizia Agostinis, seeks a highly motivated and skilled Postdoctoral Researcher to join the CDRT team to work on the recently fully funded Excellence of Science (EOS) MetaNiche project. The MetaNiche brings together scientists and clinicians from 6 academic teams from the Flemish, Walloon, and Brussels Capital Region, and a foreign expert who has pioneered the research on the pre-metastatic niche, with complementary expertise in the fields of cancer metastasis, lymph/angiogenesis, immunology and cancer cell death.

Lymph nodes (LN) are the first metastatic relay before cancer disseminates to distant organs. There is growing evidence that tumor-emanating signals create a premetastatic niche in sentinel LN that facilitates metastatic cell dissemination. However, the mechanistic underpinnings of how tumor cells induce a pre-metastatic niche in LNs and escape cell death and immunosurveillance upon seeding in the LN are less understood. 

The overarching goal of the MetaNiche project is to provide a first holistic view of the spatial and temporal 4D map and detailed trajectory of the vascular, immune, and stromal changes in the LNs from homeostasis to the metastatic state through state-of-the-art approaches (4D intravital imaging, transcriptional, proteomic and metabolic profiling) using metastatic mouse tumor models and human LN samples of cancer patients. 

Our CDRT team (see https://agostinislab.sites.vib.be/en) will address whether and how non-mutational mechanisms driving cancer cell-state transitions and metabolic reprogramming, contribute to the generation of a permissive soil that fosters cancer cell survival, escape from cell death and immunosurveillance, within the lymph node (LN) ecosystem. 

Our goal is to pursue an innovative and interdisciplinary research program, covering research from integrated omics, single-cell analysis & cell lineage studies, and cell death immunobiology to translational cancer research, in order to restore the immunosurveillance function of the LN and interfere with metastatic seeding and dissemination to other organs.

The successful candidate will study mechanisms of cancer cells dissemination in the LN, characterization of cancer cell states, their metabolic rewiring, and crosstalk with LN resident immune cells and endothelial cells, conferring resistance to cell death, using state of the art in house generated mouse models. 

The applicant should be a highly motivated and passionate researcher who will drive and perform research and associated laboratory tasks and be able to work independently. 

The successful postdoc will collaborate with Ph.D. students, technicians, and computational biologists, to increase the impact of the research efforts, liaise with collaborators of the EOS MetaNiche, but also with technology transfer experts. 

The applicant is expected to be able to organise and troubleshoot this work independently, document it thoroughly, and communicate results and experiences with the team in a transparent and professional manner.

We are looking for a highly motivated, well-organized, and dynamic candidate with a high level of independence and creative thinking.

• You hold a Ph.D. in cancer cell death, immunology, or related fields.
• You have an excellent publication track record in these fields with at least one first-author publication
• You are eager to learn new techniques and you show a keen interest and curiosity-driven approach to
• VIB Center for Cancer Biology
• scientific questions
• You have demonstrable practical skills in molecular/cellular biology, cell death, high-end imaging, analysis
• of the tumor microenvironment. Knowledge and skills related to onco-immunology is a plus
• You have experience in working with deadlines and show creative thinking
• You are a team player with excellent oral and written English communication skills
• You are able to guide Ph.D. students and coordinate the projects between our teams

• A 3 years position based on an annual contract with the possibility of renewal, and depending on a positive evaluation
• The job is available immediately, but the starting date is negotiable
• Access to state-of-the-art infrastructure
• A stimulating, research work environment where quality, professionalism, and team spirit are encouraged
• The opportunity to interact with several world-class investigators at our VIB-KU Leuven Center for Cancer
• Biology (CCB), at the University of Leuven in Belgium (through our established network and research consortia) and abroad.

Please complete the online application procedure on the VIB Jobsite - see
http://www.vib.be/en/jobs/Page... - and https://agostinislab.sites.vib...
and include:

• A detailed CV, including a list of your scientific publications
• An elaborate cover letter describing your motivation
• Contact information of 2 referees

For more information, please contact [email protected]
Twitter https://twitter.com/AgostinisL...

VIB is an entrepreneurial and vibrant non-profit research institute in Flanders-Belgium with a clear focus on groundbreaking research in life sciences. The VIB-KULeuven Center for Cancer Biology (CCB)
(https://www.vibcancer.be), is one of the research departments of VIB located at the University Hospital
Campus in Leuven, Belgium. CCB hosts 11 research groups and represents about 200 international researchers, administrative and technical collaborators. The focus of the CCB is to unravel the molecular basis of cancer, and whenever suitable, exploit these insights to develop novel therapeutic or diagnostic strategies.