Postdoc 'Defining the tumor immune environment in peritoneal metastases'

Annually 1.9 million new cases of colorectal cancer (CRC) are seen worldwide and 50% of patients die of the disease. Patients with metastases to the peritoneal cavity (peritoneal metastases, PM) have the worst prognosis because they do not respond to systemic therapies. Immunotherapy is directed at activating the patient's own immune system to attack cancer cells and has shown tremendous success for certain types of metastasized cancer. Unfortunately, only the minority of CRC patients benefit from immunotherapy. Understanding immunotherapy resistance requires a detailed understanding of the tumor immune microenvironment (TME).

In this project, we aim to provide a highly detailed map of the microenvironment of peritoneal metastatic CRC, which allows for the identification of novel candidate immune suppressive and potentially targetable factors in PM-CRC. We thereby aim to discover novel immunomodulatory treatment targets. The expected long-term social (and economic) impact of this project is to improve survival and reduce disease burden in patients with PM-CRC, which remains a large unmet clinical need.

About the role
The postdoc will develop a detailed map of the tumour immune environment in peritoneal metastasized CRC using CyTOF and single cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq), combined with highly innovative spatial profiling techniques including imaging mass cytometry (IMC) and digital spatial profiling (dsp). This enables phenotypic immune- and cancer cell characterization in patients with peritoneal metastasized CRC with single cell resolution within their spatial context. The overarching goal is to identify novel targets for immunotherapy.

The postdoc will further be involved in testing potential novel immunotherapeutic targets in our established mouse peritoneal metastases models.

The work includes co-supervision of a PhD candidate and will allow for development of new lines of research.