Assistant​/Associate​/Full Professor; Biomanufacturing

Position Information

Posting Number F00805P Position Title Open Rank (Assistant/Associate/Full Professor) - Biomanufacturing Department Provost Office Location Arlington Job Family Faculty Position Status Full-time Rank Open-T/TT Work Hours Standard Open to External and Internal FLSA Exempt Duration Funding expected to continue Pay Basis Monthly Benefits Eligible Yes Job Summary

The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) invites applications for five tenure-track faculty positions as part of a coordinated faculty cluster hire designed to establish a nationally distinctive HLA-Peptide Biotherapeutics Program within the Institute of Biomanufacturing and Precision Medicine for North Texas (IMPRINT). These positions represent a single integrated hiring initiative rather than five independent searches. Successful candidates will join a collaborative research ecosystem focused on translating disease-selective HLA-peptide targets into novel biotherapeutic products through a seamless discovery-to-translation framework.

This initiative is led by Dr. Jon

A. Weidanz
, Senior Associate Vice President for Research & Innovation and Founding Director of IMPRINT. The program builds upon established strengths in HLA biology, immunopeptidomics, HLA-E biology, peptide-MHC recognition, and TCR-mimic (TCRm) antibody discovery and engineering.

The cluster is centered on the scientific premise that intracellular disease biology can be therapeutically targeted through disease-selective peptide-HLA complexes displayed on the cell surface. By integrating target discovery, molecular recognition, therapeutic engineering, manufacturing science, and translational development, IMPRINT aims to establish a national leadership position in HLA-directed biotherapeutics.

The program leverages UTA’s growing strengths in translational immunology, advanced biomanufacturing, analytical sciences, computational biology, and precision medicine, as well as strategic partnerships with Cook Children’s Health Care System, Baylor Scott & White Health, Baylor University Medical Center, regional biotechnology partners, and the National Center for Therapeutics Manufacturing 2 (NCTM2).

At the heart of this initiative is an integrated translational pathway:
Target Discovery → Mechanistic Validation → Molecular Recognition → Therapeutic Engineering → Biotherapeutics Manufacturing Science & CMC → Clinical Translation

IMPRINT will leverage advanced modeling, process analytics, and digital twin methodologies as enabling technologies within biotherapeutics manufacturing science and Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC). These approaches can support process understanding, product quality prediction, scale-up planning, and manufacturing optimization for HLA-targeted biologics. Rather than serving as the primary scientific focus of the cluster, these capabilities function as translational tools that help bridge therapeutic discovery and manufacturable product development.

By integrating manufacturing science and data-driven product development throughout the therapeutic lifecycle, IMPRINT seeks to accelerate the progression of HLA-targeted biotherapeutics from target discovery to clinically translatable products.

UTA seeks candidates whose scholarship aligns with one of five integrated capability domains:

• HLA Immunopeptidomics and Antigen Discovery

Discovery and quantitative validation of disease-selective peptide-HLA targets using immunopeptidomics, proteogenomics, spatial biology, and related approaches.

• Antigen Presentation Biology and Functional Genomics

Mechanistic studies of antigen processing and presentation, HLA regulation, immune escape, peptide loading, and functional genomics.

• Computational Modeling of pHLA Recognition…