Postdoctoral Fellow — Molecular/Structural & Computational Immunology

Sgourakis Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania / Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

A postdoctoral fellowship is available in the laboratory of Dr. Nikolaos G. Sgourakis (Professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics, Perelman School of Medicine, UPenn; Center for Computational and Genomic Medicine, CHOP) to investigate the structural and mechanistic basis of antigen presentation and T cell recognition, with the goal of advancing cancer immunotherapy.

The Sgourakis laboratory integrates cryo-electron microscopy, NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, protein engineering, and computational modeling to elucidate the molecular rules governing the MHC-I antigen processing and presentation pathway, and to develop novel protein platforms for targeting intracellular tumor antigens. The lab is part of two international Cancer Grand Challenges teams and is actively funded by the NIH. For more information please visit https://www.sgourakislab.org.

Fellows with expertise in structural biology (cryoEM, crystallography, or NMR), molecular immunology, bioengineering, or a related field, with a keen interest in understanding immune recognition and its translational applications, are encouraged to apply. Applicants should have a Ph.D. (or expect to receive one) at the time of joining, ideally less than 3 years prior. Experience with recombinant protein expression and purification, biophysical characterization, or computational structural biology is a plus.

To apply, please send a CV and the names of three references to Dr. Nikolaos Sgourakis (nikolaos.sgourakis@pennmedicine.upenn.edu).

Selected recent papers:
1. Hwang D, …, Maris JM, Sgourakis NG. HLA-Shuttle: A system for enhancing antigen presentation in immunologically cold tumors. Sci. Adv. 2026, doi:10.1126/sciadv.aeb0821.
2. Sun Y, Pumroy RA, …, Moiseenkova-Bell V, Sgourakis NG. CryoEM structure of an MHC-I/TAPBPR peptide-bound intermediate reveals the mechanism of antigen proofreading. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2025.
3. Du H, Mallik L, …, Sgourakis NG*, Huang PS*. Targeting peptide antigens using a multiallelic MHC I-binding system. Nat. Biotechnol. 2024, doi:10.1038/s41587-024-02505-8.
4. De Paula VS, Dubey A, Arthanari H, Sgourakis NG. Dynamic sampling of a surveillance state enables DNA proofreading by Cas9. Cell Chem. Biol. 2024.
5. Sun Y, Florio TJ, …, Maris JM, Sgourakis NG. Structural principles of peptide-centric CAR recognition guide therapeutic expansion. Science Immunology 2023.
6. Gupta S, Nerli S, …, Sgourakis NG. HLA3DB: comprehensive annotation of peptide/HLA complexes enables blind structure prediction of T cell epitopes. Nat. Commun. 2023, doi:10.1038/s41467-023-42163-z.
7. McShan AC, Devlin CA, …, Sgourakis NG. TAPBPR employs a ligand-independent docking mechanism to chaperone MR1 molecules. Nat. Chem. Biol. 18:859–868, 2022, doi:10.1038/s41589-022-01049-9.