Assistant Professor in RNA Therapeutics and Engineering

Canada Impact+ Emerging Leaders

Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) in RNA Therapeutics and Engineering

The Canada Impact+ Emerging Leaders program is a one-time initiative designed to support institutions in recruiting internationally based Early Career Researchers to Canada. Emerging Leaders will receive research funding and institutional support to advance transformative research in Canada’s strategic priority areas, build partnerships across sectors and borders, and translate their research into applications and impacts that benefit Canadians and the world.

The Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) and School of Biomedical Sciences at McGill University invite applications for a full-time tenure-track Assistant Professor position in RNA Therapeutics and Engineering in the Departments of Biochemistry and Biomedical Engineering (BME).

The successful candidate will be expected to propose an independent research program demonstrating strong alignment with the program’s strategic priority of ‘Health, including biotechnology’. The Emerging Leaders Program award is valued at $100,000 per year over six years to support the Early Career Researchers’ Research Program, with the possibility of extension for a further six years.

The successful candidate will be expected to begin a full-time tenure-track appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor no later than June 9, 2027.

This recruitment takes place at an exceptional moment of growth in RNA science and therapeutics  position will leverage complementary strengths in Biochemistry, including RNA biology, gene regulation, RNA guided genome editing, genomics and molecular mechanisms, and in Biomedical Engineering, including biomaterials, RNA delivery, microfluidics, imaging and living systems engineering. It is closely aligned with DNA-to-RNA (D2R), McGill’s $165-million CFREF initiative in RNA discovery and therapeutics and will build on the momentum of McGill’s recent recruitment in RNA biology.

The successful candidate will also have access to the McGill mRNA Therapeutics Platform, which supports the design, production, optimization and characterization of mRNA therapeutics, together with extensive opportunities for collaboration across McGill’s research institutes, affiliated hospitals and broader ecosystem in cancer, genomic medicine, cell-based therapeutics and precision medicine.

We seek outstanding candidates with expertise and research interests in Biochemistry and Biomedical Engineering, defined broadly, who will develop a creative and high-impact research program in the fundamental and/or translational aspects of RNA therapeutics and engineering.

The search is aimed toward the rapidly developing continuum connecting RNA design and therapeutics, mRNA vaccines, RNA delivery, genome engineering and next-generation cell-based therapeutics. The successful candidate will pursue an independent research program that combines molecular, biochemical, genomic, quantitative and/or engineering approaches to advance fundamental understanding and create new therapeutic technologies.

Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• RNA design and engineering, including mRNA vaccines, cancer vaccines, protein-replacement therapeutics, regulatory RNA elements and programmable RNA technologies;
• RNA delivery and targeting, including lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), biomaterials, precision nanomedicine and other viral or non-viral delivery technologies;
• RNA-guided genome engineering, including CRISPR-based approaches, base editing, prime editing and related technologies;
• Cell-based therapeutics and immunoengineering, including engineered immune cells, stem or progenitor cells, in vivo cellular engineering and…