Postdoctoral Scientist- Rare Cells Team

CRUK UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER 

Postdoctoral Scientist: Development of liquid biopsies to understand and predict lung cancer relapse. 

Salary Range - £37,000 - £44,852 (dependent upon qualifications and experience)

Job Ref: NBC/25/03

Duration: 5-year FTC 

About the role: We are recruiting a postdoctoral scientist to undertake translational research using circulating tumour cells (CTCs) and circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) to better predict and understand the mechanism of relapse in lung cancers. This exciting liquid biopsy-focused project sits within the Rare Cells Team. The project is part of the CRUK funded TRACERx EVO programme that involves over 250 UK researchers, and aims to better understand lung cancer evolution and seeks to improve outcomes for patients. 

Background: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide and represents nearly 20% of cancer-related mortality and 11% of cancer incidence. The success of targeted Lung Health Checks and LDCT screening led to the roll out of nationwide screening which will result in an increasing number of patients who present with stage I and stage II NSCLC. The appropriate management of these patients following surgery is critical to optimise the benefits of early detection and improve patient outcomes. One key aspect of this is distinguishing patients cured by surgery alone from those with more aggressive disease, most likely to relapse who would benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. Analysis of the differences between these two cohorts of patients also has the potential to give insight into mechanisms of relapse and metastasis. 

Previous work in our laboratory involved the development of an innovative approach for CTC sampling through pulmonary vein cannulation at surgery (PV-CTCs) and in a cohort of 100 TRACERx patients we demonstrated that PV-CTC enumeration was associated with lung cancer-specific relapse (Chemi et al. Nature Medicine, 2019). The current position will build on this work by further investigating the role of CTCs in disease recurrence and will utilise recent technical improvements to our CTC workflows and single cell molecular profiling to address additional biological questions in TRACERx EVO, including analysis of distinct CTC phenotypes, their role in metastatic dissemination and the extent to which CTCs harbour tumour cell intrinsic features of immune evasion. This research will utilise patient samples collected within the TRACERx EVO programme and lung cancer mouse models established and available within NBC (Simpson et al. Nat Cancer 2020). 

The successful applicant will also apply novel ctDNA detection and profiling methods developed within NBC (Chemi et al. Nature Cancer 2022, Conway et al. Nat Comm. 2024) to further study tumour evolution and understand the interplay between CTCs and ctDNA. The overall aim of the project will be to develop a multi-modal liquid biopsy approach that helps us better understand mechanisms of relapse in lung cancer and ultimately inform on clinical decision making. 

About you: You will be a highly motivated, proactive problem solver who relishes a challenge and will develop independent ideas for project direction and delivery. You will have a PhD in cancer biology, molecular biology or a related discipline, along with relevant experience in a cancer research laboratory. Prior experience in liquid biopsy research, CTC and/or cfDNA, methylation, early detection and/or lung cancer research would be beneficial but not essential. 

How to apply? To apply for this position please visit our website. 

Informal enquiries:   Dominic.Rothwell@cruk.manchester.ac.uk 

Closing date: 14 March 2025 

Apply link https://cruknbc.org/news/

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