Department of Pathology Yale School of Medicine
Postdoctoral Position
The Katz Laboratory in the Department of Pathology at Yale School of Medicine seeks applicants for an open Postdoctoral position. Accomplished PhD graduates seeking postdoctoral fellowship training in translational immunotherapy are invited to apply to the laboratory of Samuel Katz, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pathology.
Adoptive cell therapy with tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) is a highly promising form of immunotherapy. TILs are isolated from a tumor, amplified ex vivo to attain a pure and highly active T cell population and infused back into patients to achieve objective response rates of up to 55% in melanoma. Recent work has focused on single cell analysis of the ex vivo expanded TIL to identify targetable pathways through cellular reprogramming that may enhance TIL function. The Katz Laboratory employs a multidisciplinary approach including human T cell reprogramming, mouse modeling, and spatial transcriptomics. Our effort is highly cooperative through close collaborations with Drs. Marcus Bosenberg, a leader in melanoma biology and the Director of the Yale Center for Immuno-Oncology; Diane Krause, the director of the advanced cell therapy lab at Yale; Mike Hurwitz, an oncologist in clinical cell therapy, and Yang Liu, a developer of novel spatial transcriptomic technologies.
Big picture questions of interest include:
- How to enhance TIL survival and cytotoxicity?
- How to shift TIL products to more stem/central memory phenotypes?
- How to enrich for tumor-antigen specific TIL?
The Postdoctoral Fellow will be trained to develop an independent research career under the mentorship of Drs. Katz and Bosenberg. Motivated self-starters with exceptional writing and presentation skills and expertise in immunology, culturing primary human T cells, flow cytometry, mRNA production and electroporation, and patient derived xenografts are preferred. Interested candidates should forward a cover letter highlighting relevant qualifications (i.e., laboratory skills, publication record) and research interests, curriculum vitae, one sample publication, and the names and addresses of three references via e-mail to Dr. Katz.
Yale is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer. Yale values diversity among its students, faculty and staff and welcomes applications from women, members of minority groups, persons with disabilities, and protected veterans.