Postdoctoral Fellow - Tumor Immunology

Overview

Join the forefront of groundbreaking research at City of Hope where we are changing lives and making a real difference in the fight against cancer, diabetes, and other life-threatening illnesses. Our dedicated and compassionate faculty and staff are driven by a common mission: Contribute to innovative approaches in predicting, preventing, and curing diseases, shaping the future of medicine through cutting-edge research.

The laboratory of Dr. Shoubao Ma at the City of Hope National Medical Center is seeking a highly motivated postdoctoral fellow to join our research team.

Dr. Ma is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation at City of Hope. His laboratory is located on the main City of Hope campus in Duarte, Los Angeles County. With over 16 years of experience in immunology, cancer immunotherapy, and transplantation immunology, Dr. Ma has authored 50 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals, including Nature Immunology (2022, 2023, 2025), Science Immunology (2023, 2024), Molecular Cell (2025), Cancer Discovery (2019), JEM, PNAS, and Trends in Immunology.

Dr. Ma's research has been recognized with multiple national and institutional awards, including the National Scholarship (2013), Excellent Doctoral Dissertation Award (2015), AAI Annual Meeting Travel Award (2019), and the Early Career Faculty Grant (2024). His lab is currently supported by NIH R01 grant, the Leukemia Research Foundation, and startup funding from City of Hope.

Our lab offers a well-funded, well-equipped, and highly collaborative environment with flexibility and opportunities for career development.

For more information about Dr. Ma's lab, please visit here.

Responsibilities

As a successful candidate, you will:

Focus on tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy, with an emphasis on understanding how tumor cells evade immune surveillance. The lab is particularly interested in:

• The regulation of natural killer (NK) cell development, function, and anti-tumor activity. CAR-NK cell therapy development and optimization.
• The tumor microenvironment and mechanisms of immune evasion. Development of innovative technologies to enhance anti-tumor immune responses.
• The role of epigenetic and RNA modifications in immune regulation and tumor progression.

Qualifications

Your qualifications should include:

• Ph.D. degree in life or biomedical sciences, or a related discipline is required.
• NK cell development and function.
• CAR NK or CAR T cell engineering and application.
• Use of conditional knockout mice, tumor models, or MCMV infection systems.
• CRISPR screening and CRISPR-based gene editing.
• Epigenetic regulation of gene expression.
• Mechanisms of immune cell exhaustion, memory, and functional regulation.
• The successful candidate will be a curious, motivated, and independent research scientist who thrives in a collaborative environment and is eager to explore innovative directions in cancer immunotherapy.
• A strong track record of scientific rigor and excellence, as evidenced by high-impact, peer-reviewed publications, is essential.

Additional qualifications include:

• Excellent communication skills and fluency in English, both written and spoken.
• Strong team orientation and interpersonal skills.
• A commitment to the program for a minimum of three years.

Compensation and equal opportunity

City of Hope employees pay is based on the following criteria: work experience, qualifications, and work location.

City of Hope is an equal opportunity employer.

To learn more about our Comprehensive Benefits, please see the benefits information.

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