Postdoc in Therapeutic Engineering of iPSC-NK cells

A 2.5-year position for an experienced postdoc is available within the research group ‘Biotherapeutic Glycoengineering and Immunology’ headed by Professor Steffen Goletz and is funded by the DigitSTEM initiative. Our research group belongs to the Section of Medical Biotechnology at the Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine.

In our research group, we apply and develop advanced next generation antibody engineering as well as cellular and molecular glycoengineering technologies to elucidate the role of glycosylation's within complex immunological networks and disease and to generate novel therapeutic approaches and drug candidates. Our main therapeutic interest is within immuno-oncology as well as infectious and lung diseases. One focus lies within cellular engineering and glycoengineering of human innate immune cells using gene editing for highly effective cell-based immunotherapeutics and the design and development of their manufacturing processes. Further focus areas are within next generation antibody engineering with bi-/ multi-specific and multimodal antibodies, phage display technologies, exosome engineering and drug delivery, gene therapy, NK- and DC- cell based therapies and their mammalian bioprocess engineering and manufacturing. We also have a strong focus on innovation and entrepreneurship.

The DigitSTEM initiative is a four-year stem cell focused research collaboration between The Technical University of Denmark (DTU), the The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine (renew) at University of Copenhagen, and Bioneer A/S that aims at developing new in vitro disease models and therapeutics using human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). 

The current position focuses on engineering, glycoengineering and differentiation of human induced-pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into NK-cells, inducible gene-editing, exosome-based gene editing and bridging activities to our AI- assisted manufacturing approach.

Responsibilities and qualifications

You as the postdoc will work with a team of Senior scientists, postdocs, and PhD students and in close collaboration with academic and industrial collaborators within the DigitSTEM initiative to establish a novel iPSC-derived NK-cell platform for next generation biotherapeutics. 

You as the postdoc candidate for this challenging project are highly motivated and must be extensively trained and experienced with a track record in human cell engineering and gene editing, NK cell therapeutics and NK-cell biology, cellular immunology and assay technologies, in vitro 2D- and 3D cancer models, as well as immunooncology in differentiation of NK cells from human iPSCs and within NK-cell biology and assay systems. A prior postdoc in this field is advantageous. Knowledge and skills in stem cell engineering, inducible gene editing technologies, differentiation of NK-cells from iPSC, exosome based gene delivery, antibody and single-domain antibody engineering and discovery, mammalian cell manufacturing, cell-line development, and, glycoengineering, glycoanalytics, and big data analysis will be of great advantage. Moreover, you as the postdoc is expected to contribute to inter connective team tasks as well as in teaching and supervision of PhD, BSc, and MSc students.

You must hold a PhD degree in a relevant life-science discipline (cellular engineering, NK cell or stem cell biology, immunology, immunooncology or alike), have excellent communication skills and be extensively trained in immunology, stem cell biology, cellular engineering, cell culture systems, and computational data analysis. 

Application procedure

Your complete online application must be submitted no later than 30 March 2025 (23:59 Danish time).

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