Faculty Position: T-Cell Engineering Scientist

About the role

The Mayo Clinic and Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center in Florida invite 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.

Strategic Role and Scientific Focus

• 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.

Research Environment

• Collaborative, multidisciplinary academic medical center environment with strategic investment in cancer immunotherapy and cell therapy translation.
• Faculty benefit from established CAR-T and immune cell therapy clinical programs.
• Growing infrastructure supporting TIL therapy development and clinical implementation.
• State-of-the-art cell manufacturing and GMP facilities.
• Institutional core resources including genomics, single-cell sequencing, proteomics, bioinformatics, and advanced imaging.
• Disease-focused research centers supporting oncology and immune-mediated disease programs.
• Cross-campus collaboration opportunities with Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and Arizona.
• Dedicated support for regulatory strategy, IND-enabling studies, and early-phase clinical trial development.

Why Choose Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center?

• Global leader in cancer research and practice.
• High levels of cancer research funding ($61.2M in annual peer-reviewed funding, $41.1M from NCI).
• Robust clinical trial accrual (2,624 in 2025, 12% of newly registered cases).
• Exceptional publication record (1776 in 2025, 24% in high impact journals).
• Promising future growth and strategic investments in cancer immunotherapy, drug discovery & development, regenerative medicine, and translational discovery science.
• Multidisciplinary approach with access to institutional expertise in AI, computational and digital biology, biostatistics, epidemiology, bioinformatics, and the Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery.
• Opportunities for evaluation, implementation, and pragmatic science.
• Dedicated institutional support for research development, regulatory navigation, commercialization pathways, and team-based science.

Qualifications

• Held 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.
• Strong record of high-impact, peer-reviewed publications in T-cell biology, CAR-T engineering, TCR development, TIL biology, tumor immunology, or related fields.
• Sustained extramural funding appropriate to academic rank (NIH K award or equivalent for Assistant Professor; R01-level funding or equivalent for Associate Professor or above).
• 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.