Postdoctoral Fellow - CAR T Cell Therapy approach to Type 1 Diabetes

About City of Hope

City of Hope, an innovative biomedical research, treatment and educational institution with over 6000 employees, is dedicated to the prevention and cure of cancer and other life-threatening diseases and guided by a compassionate, patient-centered philosophy.

Founded in 1913 and headquartered in Duarte, California, City of Hope is a remarkable non-profit institution, where compassion and advanced care go hand-in-hand with excellence in clinical and scientific research. City of Hope is a National Cancer Institute designated Comprehensive Cancer Center and a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of the nation's leading cancer centers that develops and institutes standards of care for cancer treatment.

Position Summary

The Beckman Research Institute at City of Hope is seeking a highly motivated Postdoctoral Fellow to participate in a novel project developing an immunotherapy for type 1 diabetes, a disease in which insulin-secreting pancreatic β cells are targeted and destroyed by a patient's autoreactive T cells. One approach for treatment of patients with type 1 diabetes is reducing or eliminating these autoreactive effector memory T cells (TEM) while sparing T cell populations required for normal adaptive immunity. The goal of this project is to design a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) to selectively target an antigen overexpressed by these TEM cells and evaluate its potential in preclinical studies.

Key Responsibilities include:

• The research fellow will utilize multiple molecular, cellular and imaging techniques to design a CAR targeting an already identified target and express this CAR in human T cells with the eventual goal of adoptive transfer to patients with type 1 diabetes.
• The ideal candidate will have experience in CAR T cell therapy or other immunotherapies, and/or cellular biology related to type 1 diabetes.
• Core competencies include molecular design and protein expression in mammalian cells, as well as those related to acquisition of high-dimensional expression analyses of primary tissues.
• This person will be working as part of a large group of researchers focused on developing T cell therapies in a translational research environment.

Basic education, experience and skills required for consideration:

• Doctoral-level degree (PhD, MD, or similar) in the fields of immunology, immunotherapy, and/or Type 1 Diabetes.
• Experience in molecular design and protein expression in mammalian cells, together with experience in high-dimensional gene expression analyses of primary tissues.
• Demonstrated ability to prepare manuscripts and/or grant proposals, along with a publication record in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Additional Information:

For further information on projects presently underway, please see the Dr. Christine Brown laboratory webpage at: https://www.cityofhope.org/research/beckman-research-institute/research-departments-and-divisions/immuno-oncology/christine-brown-lab

• To protect the health of patients and staff and to comply with new State of California mandates, City of Hope staff are required to show proof of full vaccination by September 30, 2021. Compliance is a condition of employment.

City of Hope is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status as a protected veteran, or status as a qualified individual with disability.

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• Posting Date: Dec 17, 2021
• Job Field: Research
• Employee Status: Regular
• Shift: Day Job