Research Fellow

The UCL Cancer Institute is the hub for cancer research at University College London, one of the world's leading universities. The Institute draws together over 400 talented scientists who are working together to translate research discoveries into developing more effective therapies for cancer patients.

The UCL Cancer Institute is part of the CRUK City of London Centre, which draws together the expertise present in four leading centres for cancer research, UCL, Barts, KCL and the Francis Crick Institute.

Further Information about the UCL Cancer Institute can be found on our website https://www.ucl.ac.uk/cancer/

We are looking for a talented and enthusiastic Post-Doctoral fellow to join the Therapeutic vulnerabilities in solid tumors and sarcoma group of Dr Sophie Postel-Vinay.

The applicant will have the opportunity to join a new group that is being developed in collaboration with an established dynamic team at Gustave Roussy. The exciting program aims at developing and evaluating novel therapeutic approaches to target aggressive transcription factors-driven sarcomas of unmet need of the children and young adult called desmoplastic small round cell tumours (DSRCT). The team has recently launched a program dedicated to DSRCT which has so far mostly focused on molecular characterization (Hénon et al, Cell Rep Med 2024); the available data and models are the foundations of this new program, which aims at addressing the challenge of therapeutically targeting transcription factor-driven sarcomas.

The applicant have the opportunity to work under the supervision of the PI in close collaboration with expert immunology teams involved in the project at UCL (Prof Kerry Chester) and Gustave Roussy. The project will focus on functional immunology and surface markers, with the aim to ultimately develop a targeted therapeutic approach to be translated into the clinic.

Applications should include a CV and a Cover Letter: In the Cover Letter please evidence the essential and desirable criteria in the Person Specification part of the Job Description. By including a Cover Letter, you can leave blank the “Why you have applied for this role” field in the application form, which is limited in the number of characters it will allow.

This position is funded for 30 months in the first instance with the possibility of extension.

Successful candidates must have a PhD (or close to completion) with relevant laboratory experience or an MSc. in Cancer Biology, Immunology or a related discipline (or close to completion) or higher degree.

The candidate should have a solid knowledge of molecular and cellular biology (including genome editing by CRISPR and lentival transfections, molecular cloning, flow cytometry, immune and cancer cell culture tissue culture), immunology, proteomics, and TCR or antibody-based therapy. This role will also benefit those who have experience in bioinformatics (notably proteomics, immunoproteomics and single-cell analysis) and mouse work.

Willingness to perform in vivo experiments and bioinformatic analyses, and to undergo further training if required and proteomics expertise is desirable but not essential.

Appointment at Grade 7 is dependent upon having been awarded a PhD; if this is not the case, initial appointment will be at research assistant Grade 6B with payment at Grade 7 being backdated to the date of final submission of the PhD thesis.

For rewards and benefits at UCL please visit: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/reward-and-benefits.

You can read more about our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/equality-diversity-inclusion/

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