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KU Leuven

Postdoctoral Researcher (Precision immuno-oncology)

2025-04-15 (Europe/Brussels)
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About the employer

KU Leuven is an autonomous university. It was founded in 1425. It was born of and has grown within the Catholic tradition.

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This is a unique position for a highly motivated and ambitious candidate, available at the Laboratory of Cell Stress & Immunity (CSI) in KU Leuven, for a research project focussed on creating next-generation of precision immunotherapy against metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC).

The CSI Laboratory is headed by Prof. Abhishek D. Garg and focusses on using novel reverse translational approaches powered by multi-omics and spatial mapping to solve cancer immunology & immunotherapy mysteries. Ultimately, the CSI lab aims to specialize in creating next-generation cancer immunotherapies to hasten progress in immuno-oncology and help improve therapeutic outlook for cancer patients, in close collaboration with leading researchers, immunologists, and oncologists, in Belgium and abroad. The CSI lab focusses on following (specific) research themes: cancer immunology & immunotherapy, immunology of cancer cell death, cross-species reverse translational immunology, stress or therapy-elicited immune-signaling pathways, immune cell biology, systems medicine, artificial intelligence (AI)-based immunology and biomarkers for clinical immuno-oncology.

CSI Lab regularly publishes in high-impact journals (e.g., Nature Medicine, Nature Rev Immunol, Science Advances, Science Transl Medicine), and has successfully pursued ground-breaking research that has led to high-impact valorisation (e.g., patents, initiation of early phase clinical trials and creation of spin-off company trajectories).

This project aims to utilize novel insights recently gained on targeting immuno-resistant CRC in the CSI lab and convert these into tangible precision immunotherapies for treating metastatic CRC with a clear mechanism-of-action and a tangible route toward future clinical translation. The project will integrate advanced immuno-oncology, multi-omics workflows, and translational immunotherapy. With this project we ambitiously aim to go significantly beyond the current state-of-the-art, by creating innovative immunotherapies that would be eventually ready-to-use in a clinic.
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Responsibilities

  • Performing high-quality experiments dealing with ex vivo immune cell biology, immune activation mechanisms, flow cytometry-based immunophenotyping, and in vivo tumor immunology & immunotherapy.
  • Delivering presentations (oral or poster) in collaboration meetings, consortium/institutional seminars, and national/international symposiums or conferences.
  • Eager to carry out visitations (if required) to other laboratories (within Belgium or abroad) for learning new techniques.
  • Eager to co-supervise the thesis projects of PhD students, as well as collaborate with postdoctoral scientists and lab tech.
  • Profile

    • You must hold a PhD degree in life sciences, medicine, biotechnology, biosciences, biomedicine, or equivalent related fields from a recognized university.
    • You must have demonstrated following skills: cell culture, basic animal handling, basic in vitro experiments, immunology or immuno-oncology analyses, basic laboratory skills, basic data analyses & statistics.
    • You must have solid knowledge of immunology, oncology, and/or cancer biology.
    • Practical knowledge and skills in mouse surgical procedures would be a plus.
    • You should be a team player with good oral and written (English) communication skills.
    • A proven and successful publication track record in this field.
    • High intrinsic motivation and a strong scientific curiosity.
    • Ability to be inventive and to present novel ideas in method development and interpretation.
    • Experience in working with deadlines and being involved in multiple projects.

    Offer

  • A full-time contract for one year with the possibility to extend (at least) 3 more years thereafter. You are stimulated to apply for personal postdoctoral fellowship.
  • Opportunity to work on projects that have real-world applications for cancer patients thereby being attractive for biotech/pharma industries, and oncologists at hospitals.
  • Bright possibilities for crosstalk with industrial partners and clinicians to chart translation and valorisation of immunotherapy.
  • Access to state-of-the-art infrastructures and active collaborations with well-known Belgian or international laboratories.
  • A stimulating, international research environment in a world-class academic laboratory and the opportunity to interact with several highly collaborative and world-class investigators.
  • The ability to work on scientifically exceptional and high impact, state-of-the-art projects.
    • The KU Leuven is one of the most innovative universities in Europe. Leuven is located 20 min. from Brussels, in the center of Europe.
    • More information

      https://gbiomed.kuleuven.be/english/research/50000618

      Interested?

      For more information please contact prof. dr. Abhishek Garg, tel.: +32 16 37 93 40, mail: abhishek.garg@kuleuven.be. Official application should be entered via the above KU Leuven application portal.

      KU Leuven strives for an inclusive, respectful and socially safe environment. We embrace diversity among individuals and groups as an asset. Open dialogue and differences in perspective are essential for an ambitious research and educational environment. In our commitment to equal opportunity, we recognize the consequences of historical inequalities. We do not accept any form of discrimination based on, but not limited to, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, age, ethnic or national background, skin colour, religious and philosophical diversity, neurodivergence, employment disability, health, or socioeconomic status. For questions about accessibility or support offered, we are happy to assist you at this email address.

      Job details

      Title
      Postdoctoral Researcher (Precision immuno-oncology)
      Employer
      Location
      Oude Markt 13 Leuven, Belgium
      Published
      2025-02-04
      Application deadline
      2025-04-15 23:59 (Europe/Brussels)
      2025-04-15 23:59 (CET)
      Job type
      Save job

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      About the employer

      KU Leuven is an autonomous university. It was founded in 1425. It was born of and has grown within the Catholic tradition.

      Visit the employer page