Translational research with state-of-the-art biomedical and cellular techniques

The project
In a collaborative project between the departments of Medical Oncology and Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology at AmsterdamUMC, location VU, the groups of de Gruijl and van Kooyk join efforts to develop a state-of-the-art immune monitoring pipeline and to study the spatial information of the tumormicroenvironment to discover new immune inhibitory pathways and test novel immune modulatory therapeutics. The postdoc will set up relevant human 3D models that represent the tumor microenvironment to explore immune modulatory processes. This project incorporates fundamental research questions as well as translational applications in human in vitro models and analysis of patient materials with the ultimate goal to test novel therapies and accelerate their translation to the clinic.

The Oncode Accelerator Consortium
These studies are part of the Oncode Accelerator consortium, a national initiative that is funded by the National Growth Fund, with the aim to accelarate and de-risk translation of novel (immuno)therapies for cancer to the clinic, see the link below for more information. You will be part of an Oncode Accelerator team within our departments that will consist of three postdocs and a PhD student, who will also collaborate with other labs throughout The Netherlands that participate in the consortium.

https://www.oncodeaccelerator.nl/

The research group 'Dendritc cell immunobiology', in which the postdoc will be embedded, focuses on posttranslational modifications in the tumor microenvironment such as glycosylation that initiates novel immune suppressive pathways. Our goal is to discover new targets for treatment and biomarkers for diagnosis. We also develop new cancer vaccines that are aimed to reboot the cancer patient’s immune system.

The Immunotherapy Lab in which the PhD student will be embedded, translates pre-clinical findings from the lab to the clinic in order to implement novel immunotherapies for cancer. Our research includes tumor-induced immune suppression, myeloid cells as therapeutic targets, characterization and immune potentiation of tumor-draining lymph nodes, VHH-based bispecifics for tumor targeting as well as the profiling and immune monitoring of cancer, lymph nodes and blood by flowcytometry and (spatial) transcriptomics.

The successful candidates will study high dimensional profiling of the peripheral blood and the tumor microenvironment of cancer patients and will correlate findings to clinical outcome or address the biological importance of identified signatures in in vitro cancer models.

Your main tasks and responsibilities are:

• Spatial transcriptomic analysis of immune related genes in patients data-sets
• Multiplex immune fluorescence microscopy analysis and imaging mass cytometry of tumor biopsis
• 3D culturing of tumor models for validation of human cell lines, generation CRISPR-Cas9 mutants
• You will use state-of-the-art high-dimensional cytometry techniques, RNA-sequencing, multiplex immune fluorescence and imaging mass cytomettry and will apply bioinformatics to analyze the data.

Your challenge

The successful candidates will study high dimensional profiling of the peripheral blood and the tumor microenvironment of cancer patients and will correlate findings to clinical outcome or address the biological importance of identified signatures in in vitro cancer models.

We are looking for a highly motivated and enthusiastic researchers with:

• PhD degree in a field related to biomedical sciences, (medical) biology, biochemistry or bioinformatics;
• Affinity for immunology and cancer;
• Interest in high-dimensional and single-cell technologies and pushing the boundaries of research through technology-driven applications, knowledge to use R, is a plus
• Experience with multiplex histocytometry
• Experience with high-dimensional data analysis and biostatistics is a plus
• Excellent communications skills in English, both written and verbal.

• Contract for a year for 36 hours a week
• Salary scale: postdoc € 3.359,- tot € 5.292,- (based on a 36 hour week), depending on qualifications and experience.
• Additional benefits including an 8.3% end-of-year bonus and 8% holiday pay. Calculate your net salary here.
• Your pension is accrued at The Dutch Pension Fund for government and education employees (ABP). Amsterdam UMC contributes 70% of this scheme
• We reimburse 75% of your OV travel costs (commuting costs).
• For more information about our employment conditions, please visit our website.

For Dutch citizens it is mandatory to provide a VOG (Verklaring Omtrent Gedrag).

Amsterdam UMC

You will work in a team with young and enthusiastic researchers, who have expertise in tumor immunology, immunotherapy, glyco-immunology, biochemistry, cell biology and cancer. Research is embedded in the research institutes Cancer Center Amsterdam (CCA) and Amsterdam Immunity and Infection Institute (AI&II).

Research will be performed in a vibrant and internationally highly competitive level environment within the O|2 Lab Building located near the hospital where tumor immunology work of several research groups is concentrated to study immunological processes at the cellular and molecular level in health and disease.

For more information about this position, you can contact prof.dr. Y. van Kooyk, via telephone number: +31 (0)20 444 8080 or prof.dr. T. de Gruijl, via telephone number (0)20 444 4063.

For more information about the application procedure, please contact Rodmer de Lange, Recruitment Advisor, via r.delange1@amsterdamumc.nl or via 06 - 1103 7870

A reference check, screening and hiring test may be part of the procedure. Read here whether that applies to you. If you join us, we ask you for a VOG (Certificate of Good Conduct).

Internal candidates will be given priority over external candidates in case of equal suitability.

Acquisition in response to this vacancy is not appreciated.