Postdoctoral Fellow - Hematopoietic Biology & Malignancy

The Rafei laboratory at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center seeks a highly motivated Postdoctoral Fellow with a strong biomedical research background to join a translational cancer immunotherapy program. The laboratory is an interdisciplinary and collaborative team focused on developing next-generation adoptive cellular therapies for cancer, with an emphasis on understanding and overcoming barriers within the tumor microenvironment.

Our work spans T-cell engineering, CAR-T cell biology, genetic and epigenetic modulation, lymphocyte metabolism, single-cell and epigenomic profiling, and clinically relevant models of solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. A central focus of the laboratory is to define how intracellular signaling, metabolic stress, and epigenetic programs regulate immune-cell fate, persistence, and antitumor function. These insights are used to design more durable and effective cellular therapies, particularly for tumors in which immune suppression, poor trafficking, or limited persistence restrict clinical efficacy.

The Postdoctoral Fellow will lead one or more independent but highly mentored projects that connect mechanistic discovery with translational cell therapy development. Projects may involve engineering CAR-T cell products, evaluating immune-cell function under tumor microenvironmental stress, and using in vitro, ex vivo, patient-derived, and in vivo models to identify mechanisms of resistance and strategies to overcome them.

Primary duties may include:

- Lead hypothesis-driven projects focused on the molecular, epigenetic, and metabolic regulation of engineered T-cell function in cancer.

- Design, generate, and validate CAR-T cell products, including genetic engineering strategies as appropriate.

- Perform functional immune assays, including cytotoxicity, cytokine production, proliferation, exhaustion, persistence, metabolic fitness, flow cytometry, and co-culture assays using tumor, stromal, and immune-cell systems.

- Evaluate therapeutic activity, trafficking, persistence, and safety in relevant preclinical models, including xenograft, patient-derived, organoid, and immunocompetent models when scientifically appropriate.

- Integrate functional studies with multi-omic approaches such as single-cell profiling, epigenomic assays, metabolomics, metabolic flux analyses, high-dimensional cytometry, and functional genetic screens in collaboration with institutional cores and computational partners.

- Contribute to translational development by helping prioritize therapeutic strategies, biomarkers, manufacturability considerations, and preclinical datasets that support future grant and clinical trial concepts.

- Prepare manuscripts, abstracts, fellowship applications, grant sections, figures, protocols, and presentations, and present findings at laboratory meetings, departmental seminars, and national or international conferences.

- Mentor and collaborate with graduate students, research assistants, technicians, and clinical or scientific collaborators in a collegial, rigorous, and team-oriented environment.

All duties and responsibilities are carried out in compliance with institutional policies, ethical research standards, and applicable federal and state regulations.

* LEARNING OBJECTIVES
* The fellow will work within a highly collaborative MD Anderson research environment with access to institutional cell therapy, genomics, epigenomics, metabolomics, flow cytometry, imaging, animal modeling, organoid, and clinical translational platforms. The position is designed for a candidate who wants to develop deep mechanistic expertise while building a record of high-impact, translationally relevant scholarship.

- Advanced Research Design and Execution:
Develop and lead rigorous independent projects that dissect regulatory mechanisms of immune dysfunction and test strategies to improve engineered cellular therapies.

- Cell Therapy Engineering and Functional Immunology:
Gain advanced expertise in CAR-T cell design, immune-cell culture, gene editing, product characterization, and functional potency assessment.

- Tumor Microenvironment and Translational Modeling:
Learn to model clinically relevant suppressive cues and evaluate cell therapy activity in organoids, patient-derived systems, orthotopic models, xenografts, and immunocompetent models where appropriate.

- Multi-omics, Functional Genomics, and Data Integration:
Develop fluency in the generation, interpretation, and integration of single cell, epigenomic, metabolic, flow/CyTOF, imaging, and functional screening datasets.

- Scientific Leadership and Communication:
Build a strong record of first-author manuscripts, abstracts, oral presentations, fellowship applications, grant contributions, and multidisciplinary collaboration.

- Career Independence:
Execute an individualized career development plan that prepares the fellow for an independent academic, physician-scientist, translational research, or industry position.

Dr. Rafei is strongly…