Postdoctoral Research Associate - Oncology

About the role

The Durbin Lab in the Division of Molecular Oncology at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital studies the fundamental mechanisms that drive children's cancer. While patient outcomes have improved in some malignancies, pediatric solid tumors in particular continue to be difficult to manage with little improvements over the past decades. For most of these diseases, no targeted therapies are available, and unfortunately, conventional therapies are fraught with toxicities. With advances in functional genomics, the role of epigenetic enzymes and transcription factor complexes in driving cell lineage and cancer pathogenesis has come to the forefront. These represent new opportunities to control high-risk childhood solid tumors, such as neuroblastoma. These processes are made more complex by the presence of intratumoral heterogeneity – the presence of cells in distinct states, within a complex primary tumor (Cell Reports Medicine 2022). Understanding the basic principles of how these cells interact to control growth of a tumor is critical to the successful design of new therapeutic interventions for childhood cancer.

The Durbin lab is interested in a broad, "multi-omics" approach to the epigenetically-coded processes that drive pediatric cancer. Our work has identified key targets in pediatric solid tumors, including rhabdomyosarcoma and neuroblastoma (Nature Genetics 2018; Nature Genetics 2021; Cancer Discovery 2022; Nature Communications 2024; Journal of Experimental Medicine 2026). We have built on these studies to develop first generation molecules suitable for targeting these proteins (Cancer Discovery 2022; Nature Communications 2024). Our goal is to more deeply understand fundamental principles of tumor cell biology, and use these to develop new therapies. Using newly developed tools, including advanced genome editing tools, we have developed fundamental insights into how cell state is controlled in childhood solid tumors. We seek to use these tools to understand and control the biological principles that govern cancer cell epigenetics, to improve our ability to control fundamental cancer processes, such as growth, resistance to therapy and metastasis.

Responsibilities

• Interrogate cell state and tumor molecular cell biology to identify new ways to control tumor malignant behaviors
• Use state-of-the-art techniques in genetics, molecular biology, chemical and cell biology
• Investigate in vitro and in vivo models of human diseases with a particular focus on transcriptional biology and epigenetics

Qualifications

• PhD degree in an appropriate scientific field is required
• Experience in mammalian cell culture is absolutely required
• Prior experience with basic transcriptional and epigenetic biology techniques (molecular cloning, DNA/RNA extraction, flow cytometry, ChIP-seq, CUT&RUN or ATACseq) is required
• Experience with command-line analysis for high throughput omics technologies is preferred but not mandatory
• Experience with functional genomics screening (CRISPRa, CRISPRi, conventional CRISPR knockout) is preferred but not mandatory

Skills

• Collaborative individual
• Strong interest in cell state and tumor molecular cell biology