"Postdoctoral Fellow (Cancer Biologist) – V Li lab"

The Francis Crick Institute

Short summary

Dr Li’s laboratory investigates the functional implication of Wnt signalling pathway in intestinal stem cells, regeneration and cancer with emphasis of finding new tumour-specific targets. Her lab combines genetically engineered mouse models, patient-derived organoids, and advanced genomic tools to investigate how Wnt signalling and cell state plasticity contribute to homeostasis and disease, particularly in the context of therapy resistance in colorectal cancer.

We are looking for an ambitious cancer biologist to work in Dr Li laboratory who can integrate functional CRISPR screens with single-cell and spatial transcriptomics to uncover the mechanisms driving cell state rewiring and therapeutic resistance in cancer.

This project is funded by CRUK Cancer Grand Challenges REWIRE-CAN programme.

Details of research projects currently being undertaken can be seen at: https://www.crick.ac.uk/vivian-li/.

Key Responsibilities

In this project, some of the specific aims include but are not limited to:

• Assess therapeutic response in primary CRC organoids in vitro and implanted tumours in vivo
• Loss-of-functional whole-genome/sub-genome CRISPR screen in vitro and in vivo to reveal treatment vulnerability
• Single-cell and spatial transcriptomic analysis of treated organoids and tumour
• Computational modelling of cell state rewiring network
• Functional validation of identified targets in various tumour models
• Drug efficacy testing in mice

You will be responsible for:

• Performing CRISPR screen and testing drug efficacy in organoids and in mice
• Liaising with members of the REWIRE-CAN team to perform experiments and communicate data and results
• Writing and contributing to the preparation of scientific manuscripts, reports, presentations and records of experimental plans and results
• Supervising and providing technical advice to more junior members of the team when appropriate

Please click here for full job description

About you

• PhD in Developmental Biology, Stem Cell or Cancer Biology or in the final stages of PhD submission*
• Experience in 3D cancer organoid culture and tumour implantation studies*
• Experience in functional CRISPR screen*
• Excellent track record of research as evidenced by publications in referred journals*
• Experience in advanced genomic sequencing and data analysis
• Experience in spatial transcriptomic data analysis

Minimum criteria*

About us

The Francis Crick Institute is a biomedical discovery institute dedicated to understanding the fundamental biology underlying health and disease. Its work is helping to understand why disease develops and to translate discoveries into new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, infections, and neurodegenerative diseases.

An independent organisation, its founding partners are the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, Wellcome, UCL, Imperial College London and King’s College London.

The Crick was formed in 2015, and in 2016 it moved into a new state-of-the-art building in central London which brings together 1500 scientists and support staff working collaboratively across disciplines, making it the biggest biomedical research facility under in one building in Europe.

The Francis Crick Institute will be world-class with a strong national role. Its distinctive vision for excellence includes commitments to collaboration; developing emerging talent and exporting it the rest of the UK; public engagement; and helping turn discoveries into treatments as quickly as possible to improve lives and strengthen the economy.

Please apply via the ‘Apply’ button above.