Post-Doctoral Research Fellow

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center is an independent, nonprofit organization providing adult cancer treatment and groundbreaking research focused on cancer and infectious diseases. Based in Seattle, Fred Hutch is the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in Washington.

With a track record of global leadership in bone marrow transplantation, HIV/AIDS prevention, immunotherapy and COVID-19 vaccines, Fred Hutch has earned a reputation as one of the world's leading cancer, infectious disease and biomedical research centers. Fred Hutch operates eight clinical care sites that provide medical oncology, infusion, radiation, proton therapy and related services, and network affiliations with hospitals in five states. Together, our fully integrated research and clinical care teams seek to discover new cures to the world's deadliest diseases and make life beyond cancer a reality.

At Fred Hutch we value collaboration, compassion, determination, excellence, innovation, integrity and respect. Our mission is directly tied to the humanity, dignity and inherent value of each employee, patient, community member and supporter. Our commitment to learning across our differences and similarities make us stronger. We seek employees who bring different and innovative ways of seeing the world and solving problems.

A laboratory within the Fred Hutch Center of Metastasis Research eXcellence (MET-X) is looking for a highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Fellow to study regulation of disseminated tumor cell (DTC) fate within the liver. The candidate would join the laboratory of Cyrus Ghajar, which is focused autonomous and non-autonomous regulators of disseminated tumor cell fate (e.g., see: Ghajar Nature Reviews Cancer 2015, Carlson et al., Nature Cell Biology 2019; Goddard et al., Cancer Cell 2024), with the overarching goal of developing therapeutically viable approaches to prevent breast cancer metastasis.

The candidate will spearhead a project with the goals of:

Identifying niches within the liver that harbor DTCs with metastasis initiating potential.
• Applying perturbations to the liver and measuring DTC fate.
• Conducting functional screens to validate putative regulators identified by the above studies.
• Working with epidemiologic collaborators to determine whether uncovered phenomena are applicable to humans, and can be used to predict patients at risk of liver recurrence.

The ideal candidate will take full advantage of the opportunity to develop an innovative and comprehensive strategy to define regulators of DTC fate in liver. They will be expected to take a vested interest in computational (e.g., spatial transcriptomics) and experimental (e.g., liver dissemination studies within immune competent mice) approaches, and make use of valuable and rare resources made available to them, including highly annotated human specimens derived from rapid autopsy.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• A Ph.D. in cell biology or a related discipline (including but not limited to biochemistry and bioengineering).
• A strong publication record, and a desire to publish highly impactful work.
• Experience in live cell imaging, bioinformatics, and/or murine tumor or metastasis models
• Eligibility and desire to apply for postdoctoral fellowships. Having already secured extramural funding will be viewed as a separator.
• Outstanding recommendation letters.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Expertise in liver physiology
• Outstanding work ethic, excellent communication and organizational skills
• Ability to develop creative approaches to experimental design
• Ability to perform independent research and work collaboratively

Letters of reference will be requested from finalist candidates.

The annual base salary range for this position is from $77,976 to $95,014, and pay offered will be based on experience and qualifications.

This position may be eligible for relocation assistance.

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center offers employees a comprehensive benefits package designed to enhance health, well-being, and financial security. Benefits include medical/vision, dental, flexible spending accounts, life, disability, retirement, family life support, employee assistance program, onsite health clinic, income-based child care subsidy, tuition reimbursement, paid vacation (22 days per year), paid sick leave (up to 30 calendar days per occurrence of a qualifying reason), paid holidays (13 days per year), and paid parental leave (up to 4 weeks).