Postdoctoral Fellow - Cancer Biology/Immunology : Houston, TX, United States

A postdoctoral position is available in the laboratory of Dr. Xi Chen, Assistant Professor and CPRIT scholar in cancer research at the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center and NCI designated Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine. During tumorigenesis, the cancer cells require increased protein synthesis and thus enhanced activities of the Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) machinery to facilitate protein folding, assembly, and transport, which induces physiological ER stress. As the tumor grows, cancer cells experience increasing nutrient deprivation and hypoxia that are strong stressors of the ER stress response or unfolded protein response (UPR) pathways. Research in the Chen Lab is at the interface of ER stress and cancer biology. We thrive to understand how UPR contributes to normal cell homeostasis and pathogenesis of diseases. We use a combination of genetics, genomics, and proteomics approaches to systematically decipher the function and mechanisms of UPR pathways in cancer that may serve as diagnostic, prognostic or predictive biomarkers, and to facilitate the development of new targeted therapeutics for treating cancer. The highly interdisciplinary and collaborative environment of our group provides unique career development opportunities for the postdoc trainees. Please refer to our representative independent and collaborative publications for details: [Nature: 508(7494):103-7; Cell: 133:1106-17; Nature Immunology: 11(5):411-8; Nature Cell Biology: 13(1):59-65; Nature Immunology: 12(1):96-104; Cancer Cell: 24(3):347-64; Nature Genetics: 38: 431-40; Genes Dev: 21: 2545-57].

Qualifications
• A Ph.D. (or equivalent) in biomedical sciences, highly motivated and career-oriented.
• Strong background and working knowledge in Cancer Biology, Immunology, or CRISPR/Cas9.
• Expertise in animal models, flow cytometry, and/or CRISPR/Cas9 is strongly preferred.