Postdoctoral Fellow - Chudnovskiy Lab

Location: The Francis Crick Institute, Midland Road, London

Short summary

The laboratory of Tumour-Immune Communication has been established in early 2024. We study bidirectional interactions between cancer cells and the host immune system using synthetic and molecular biology, genetics, and immunology.

The Project

This project is designed to understand the interactions between tumour cells and immune cells utilising a variety of tumour cell lines and genetic models, with a primary but not exclusive focus on lung cancer and lung metastases. Our laboratory is equipped to track tumour-immune interactions at the single cell level. The LIPSTIC system—Labeling Immune Partnerships by SorTagging Intercellular Contacts—is used to unravel the cellular communication within the tumour microenvironment, concentrating on the interactions between tumour cells and immune cells, as well as between different antigen-presenting cells and T cells. The postdoctoral researcher will employ advanced genetic and molecular biology techniques as well as a lot of scRNA-seq to investigate the principles that govern the dynamics of tumour-immune interactions, aiming to apply this understanding to the development of cancer treatments. The work will involve the study of a wide range of tumour models, with an emphasis on lung cancer and other cancers that metastasise to the lung.

Key Responsibilities

The postholder will be responsible for:

• Performing initial characterization of tumor-immune interactions at a single cell level using LIPSTIC and other cell-cell interaction tracing techniques.
• Understanding molecular mechanisms that drive tumor-immune interactions.
• Manipulating tumor-immune interactions to enhance antitumor immunity.

Postdoctoral Fellows will lead their own projects, contribute to other projects on a collaborative basis (both in the lab and with external collaborators) and may guide PhD students in their research. The ability to work in a team is essential.

About us

The Francis Crick Institute is a biomedical discovery institute dedicated to understanding the fundamental biology underlying health and disease. Its work is helping to understand why disease develops and to translate discoveries into new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, infections, and neurodegenerative diseases.

An independent organisation, its founding partners are the Medical Research Council (MRC), Cancer Research UK, Wellcome, UCL (University College London), Imperial College London and King’s College London.

The Crick was formed in 2015, and in 2016 it moved into a new state-of-the-art building in central London which brings together 1500 scientists and support staff working collaboratively across disciplines, making it the biggest biomedical research facility under in one building in Europe.

The Francis Crick Institute will be world-class with a strong national role. Its distinctive vision for excellence includes commitments to collaboration; developing emerging talent and exporting it the rest of the UK; public engagement; and helping turn discoveries into treatments as quickly as possible to improve lives and strengthen the economy. 

• If you are interested in applying for this role, please apply via our website.
• The closing date for applications is 12.05.2024
• All offers of employment are subject to successful security screening and continuous eligibility to work in the United Kingdom.