Faculty Position: T-Cell Cancer Engineering Scientist

About the role

Mayo Clinic and Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center in Florida invites applications for an open-rank faculty position for an accomplished and innovative T-Cell Engineering Scientist to join the expanding Cell Therapy Discovery and Translational Science Program. This strategic recruitment supports Mayo Clinic’s commitment to advancing next-generation engineered T-cell therapies for cancer and selected immune-mediated diseases. We seek a highly creative investigator with expertise in T-cell engineering, CAR-T development, TCR-based therapies, and Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte (TIL) platforms to develop and translate novel cellular immunotherapy strategies. The successful candidate will lead efforts to identify and validate new T-cell targets, engineer enhanced CAR and TCR constructs, and optimize TIL-based therapeutic approaches with improved specificity, persistence, safety, and efficacy. This role will play a central part in accelerating translational immune cell therapy efforts, bridging discovery science with IND-enabling development and early-phase clinical trials.

Responsibilities

• Lead discovery and validation of novel targets for CAR-T, TCR-engineered T cells, and TIL-based therapies across hematologic malignancies and solid tumors.
• Develop strategies to enhance TIL expansion, persistence, functional fitness, and tumor reactivity, including genetic modification approaches to overcome exhaustion and immunosuppressive tumor microenvironments.
• Engineer and optimize CAR constructs, co-stimulatory domains, synthetic circuits, safety switches, and multiplex gene editing strategies to enhance therapeutic performance.
• Advance next-generation approaches such as armored CAR-T cells, logic-gated systems, dual-target strategies, universal/allogeneic platforms, and genetically enhanced TIL therapies.
• Collaborate closely with genome editing scientists, tumor immunologists, translational investigators, GMP manufacturing teams, and clinical trial leaders to move engineered T-cell therapies into clinical testing.
• Contribute to building scalable discovery pipelines for antigen identification, functional screening, and preclinical validation.
• Participate in multidisciplinary team science initiatives across Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Mayo Clinic enterprise campuses in Rochester, Minnesota; Jacksonville, Florida; and Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona.
• Help shape an integrated T-cell therapy strategy encompassing CAR-T, TCR, and TIL platforms, strengthening Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center in Florida’s leadership in immune cell therapy innovation.

Qualifications

• Hold a doctoral degree (Ph.D., M.D., M.D./Ph.D., Sc.D., or equivalent) in immunology, molecular biology, biomedical engineering, genetics, or a related discipline.
• Demonstrate a strong record of high-impact, peer-reviewed publications in T-cell biology, CAR-T engineering, TCR development, TIL biology, tumor immunology, or related fields.
• Sustain extramural funding appropriate to academic rank (NIH K award or equivalent for Assistant Professor; R01-level funding or equivalent for Associate Professor or above).
• Demonstrate expertise in CAR or TCR construct design, TIL expansion and functional assessment, antigen target discovery, or translational immune engineering.
• Experience collaborating in multidisciplinary translational teams.
• Evidence of leadership and commitment to mentorship within an inclusive academic environment.
• Appointment level (Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor) will be commensurate with experience and years in rank, scholarly achievement, leadership experience, and funding record.

Benefits

• Competitive startup and sustained institutional support
• Investment in team science and program-building initiatives
• Access to a $1B+ annual research enterprise
• Infrastructure for IND-enabling studies and early-phase clinical trials
• Exceptional benefits, including retirement and pension programs
• A culture that values innovation, inclusion, and transdisciplinary collaboration
• Commitment to creating an inclusive and equitable environment, recognizing that diverse research teams drive more innovative solutions to complex biomedical challenges

Schedule

Schedule: Full Time, 80 hours per pay period.