Faculty Position: Heavy Particle Radiobiology​/DNA Damage Response and Repair Scientist

Responsibilities

Position Description Mayo Clinic and Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center in Florida invite applications for an open-rank faculty position for innovative and accomplished scientists focused on DNA damage repair and response pathways, particularly in the context of high linear energy transfer (LET) heavy particle therapies - including proton and carbon ion - in animal models and/or human clinical research studies and clinical trials.

The successful recruit will have an unparalleled opportunity i to expand and lead rapidly expanding, innovative, and exciting programs in radiation biology and oncology.

In 2025, Mayo Clinic Florida completed initial construction of the Duan Family Integrated Oncology Building. A pioneering investment, representing the first carbon ion treatment facility in the Americas, the 225,000 square foot, $233 million building offers a range of options for individualized radiotherapy, including conventional X-ray therapy, and 360-degree proton ion therapy and carbon ion therapy, a powerful new option for highly resistant cancers.

Heavy particle therapy - including next-generation proton beam therapy and carbon ion therapy - has the potential to transform treatment paradigms not only for rare, radio resistant cancers but also more-common malignancies. Whether heavy particle treatments may be used in early stage disease for effective cure is also under investigation. The center will launch proton beam therapy in early 2027, with carbon ion therapy available in early 2028.

Through collaboration with a global technology and engineering company headquartered in Japan and other partners, Mayo Clinic will provide treatment capabilities, including photon, proton and carbon ion therapy, that are available nowhere else in the world. To enhance the benefits of heavy particle therapy delivery, Mayo Clinic is partnering with a software development company to create an advanced treatment adaptive planning system for photon, proton and carbon ion therapies.

This system, not currently available for most patients receiving radiation therapy, reduces the radiation dose sent to healthy tissue and provides real-time online adaptive treatment planning.

We seek an exceptional investigator with expertise in investigating mechanisms of DNA damage induction and molecular responses including DNA repair pathway dependencies after exposures to photons, protons and heavy charged particles (such as carbon) used for radiotherapy to guide precision radiation oncology and therapeutic combinations. As carbon ions in particular may elicit neo-antigens and trigger local and systemic anti-cancer immune responses, there will be significant opportunities to collaborate with other physicians and scientists to dissect these mechanistic pathways and translate them to unique combinatorial therapeutic interventions.

As such, successful candidates will play a central role in advancing a rapidly growing, multidisciplinary heavy particle program focused on discovery science, translational innovation, and clinical impact.

The DNA Damage Response Scientist will:

• Characterize cellular and molecular responses to photon, proton, and heavy-ion radiation.
• Identify DNA repair pathway choices and map DDR vulnerabilities that can be used for patient stratification or co-targeted with inhibitors or gene-editing strategies to enhance efficacy of radiotherapy.
• Develop preclinical models to test synergy between radiotherapy and targeted therapy.
• Have the opportunity to drive science in neo-antigen discovery and combination immunotherapy in the context of DNA damage and molecular and cellular pathways.
• Provide mechanistic insights to support clinical translation of carbon-ion–based treatment programs, in animal system and in clinical research and clinical trials.
• Collaborate with computational scientists to identify and model clinical vulnerabilities to charged particle exposures and develop radiation-response signatures.

Mayo Clinic Florida offers a highly collaborative and integrated academic medical center environment with expanding strengths in heavy…