Postdoctoral Scholar - Pediatric Oncology Translational Research Lab

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:

CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process . Please do not apply here, apply internally through Workday.

CURRENT PENN STATE STUDENT (not employed previously at the university) and seeking employment with Penn State, please login to Workday to complete the student application process. Please do not apply here, apply internally through Workday.

If you are NOT a current employee or student, please click “Apply” and complete the application process for external applicants .Approval of remote and hybrid work is not guaranteed regardless of work location. For additional information on remote work at Penn State, see Notice to Out of State Applicants .This is a term position; length of the term will be discussed during the interview process.

Continuation past the term length discussed will be based on university need, performance, and/or availability of funding.

POSITION SPECIFICS The Beat Childhood Cancer Research Consortium at Penn State College of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, in Hershey, PA, is seeking an innovative and highly driven Postdoctoral Scholar for the Pediatric Oncology Translational Research Lab (POTRL). This is a full-time on-site position.

The Beat Childhood Cancer Research Consortium (BCC) is an international clinical research sponsor and acts as a Contract Research Organization (CRO) of a network of 50+ hospitals that participate in BCC's investigator-initiated clinical trials. The Pediatric Oncology Translational Research Lab is the preclinical research team of BCC. This advanced-level postdoctoral position aims at developing cutting-edge research on pediatric oncology with focus on pre-clinical and translational aspects of cancer.

Job Summary Independent research

Design, execute, and troubleshoot experiments with minimal faculty oversight, applying expert-level judgment to resolve technical challenges.

Formulate original hypotheses grounded in the current pediatric oncology literature and develop testable experimental frameworks.

Maintain rigorous, reproducible laboratory records and uphold data integrity standards across all projects.

Manage personal project timelines and deliverables, proactively communicating progress and roadblocks to the lead researcher and PI.High-impact scholarship

Generate publication-ready datasets and lead the writing, revision, and submission of first-author manuscripts to high-impact journals.

Critically interpret complex, preclinical, or clinical translational datasets and communicate findings to diverse audiences.

Present research at national and international conferences; contribute to preparation of abstracts and poster materials.

Serve as a peer reviewer for relevant scientific journals when invited.

Technology development

Identify, evaluate, and implement cutting-edge methodologies (e.g., single-cell sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, CRISPR screens, PDX/organoid models) relevant to pediatric cancer biology.

Establish and validate new protocols, optimizing them for the lab's specific research questions and infrastructure.

Document new methods thoroughly and train lab personnel on their implementation.

Team collaboration

Actively participate in lab meetings, journal clubs, and departmental seminars; contribute constructive scientific feedback to peers.

Foster productive relationships with clinical collaborators, research technicians, bioinformaticians, biostatisticians, and translational teams within and outside the institution.

Collaborate across multi-PI consortium projects, coordinating experimental contributions and adhering to shared  multi-investigator publications and contribute equitably to collaborative grant…