Postdoctoral Positions, Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie, Belgium (2016)

The Laboratory of Tumor Microenvironment and Therapeutic Resistance, headed by Prof. Gabriele Bergers, is looking for highly motivated and creative postdoctoral scientists to join their international research team. Candidates should be able to work independently as well as in a team; specifcally in lieu of handling multidisciplinary projects.

Main objective

The focus of the lab is to understand the dynamic and reciprocal interaction of the tumor cell compartment and its microenvironment that contributes to tumor progression and therapy-induced adaptation and resistance. Over the last years, utilizing several mouse models of cancer, we have used various approaches to target the tumor niche microenvironment (-with a focus on the tumor vasculature and immune cell constituents-) and thereby identified several intimate regulatory mechanisms between angiogenesis, invasion and immune-suppression that provide novel target possibilities to enhance effects of cancer therapy by modulating the tumor vascular system and enhance immunity to reach a higher patient population to thwart tumors and metastases. Current projects include characterization of autophagy function in the microenvironmental control of angiogenesis and invasion and its impact on immunity as well as investigations relating to vascular and immune-modulating strategies to sustain tumor response.

Desired skills and experience
- Candidates should have a PhD in a cancer-related field with outstanding skills in cellular and molecular biology.
- Applicants with previous experience in autophagy or immunology are highly encouraged to apply. Experience in the use of in vivo tumor models is an advantage.
- Incumbents should have a strong publication record with at least one paper as a first author in peer-reviewed international journals.
- He/She should have excellent communication skills in spoken and written English (proven knowledge of English is required, TOEFL test).

Further details:
http://www.vib.be