Cancer Immunology Postdoctoral Fellow (Louisville)

We are seeking a highly enthusiastic postdoctoral fellow. The Dibra lab is highly collaborative, innovation-driven lab pushing the boundaries of tumor immunology. Our work spans the full arc, from cutting-edge genetic screens and spatial multi-omics to functional in vivo validation, all aimed at cracking the code of how tumors evade the immune system.

We leverage advanced in vivo genetic screening platforms, such as Perturb-map, with spatially resolved perturbations to map tumor–immune interactions at unprecedented resolution. Using single-cell and spatial transcriptomics (including Xenium), we decode cellular heterogeneity, immune niche architecture, and lineage states within the tumor microenvironment. A core focus is understanding how oncogenes actively hijack both innate and adaptive immunity — and how we can stop them. We pair this with immunopeptidomics to uncover tumor-specific antigen presentation dynamics and identify new therapeutic vulnerabilities. Underpinning it all are our genetically engineered mouse models and patient-derived organoids, giving us an integrated bench-to-bedside platform, including novel alleles developed in the lab, spanning breast cancer and MASH-HCC to functionally interrogate tumor–immune regulatory circuits in vivo, ex vivo, and in a clinically relevant human context. If you're excited about doing high-impact science at the intersection of cancer biology, immunology, and cutting-edge genomics — this is the lab for you.

Mentorship & Career Development: The PI is committed to supporting the postdoctoral fellow’s career growth by fostering a collaborative and stimulating research environment, encouraging publication in leading journals, providing guidance on fellowship and grant applications, and offering funding to attend national conferences and expand professional networks. Additionally, in the last year of the fellows’ career, the mentor will support fellow to develop an independent project to jumpstart their career.

University of Louisville and the Brown Cancer Center have a strong commitment to immunotherapy as a tool to end cancer. Beside the lab, Louisville is a vibrant, welcoming city that surprises people in the best way possible. Incredible food, a thriving arts scene, bourbon culture, and neighborhoods with real character, at a cost of living that makes your postdoc salary go further than you'd expect. When you need to unplug, the Ohio River waterfront has you covered: trails, kayaking, and open sky just minutes away. And with Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Nashville, and St. Louis all within three hours, you're never far from the next collaboration, conference, or adventure. Great science. Great city. Closer to everything than you think.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Plan and execute research experiments
• Analyze experimental data and update research notebooks
• Reading literature relevant to research and training objectives
• Preparation of manuscripts and written reports
• Oral presentations at group/local meetings, attendance at seminars
• Training students and technicians

Minimum Qualifications:

• PhD in cancer biology, immunology, or a related biomedical field.
• At least one first-authored publication in a peer-reviewed journal demonstrating independent research contribution.
• Demonstrated hands-on in vivo rodent experience including IP, IV, and oral gavage administration.
• Proficiency in viral vector systems (lentivirus, AAV8, Ad-Cre) for mechanistic in vitro and in vivo studies.
• Experience with mammalian cell culture, molecular cloning, and standard molecular biology techniques.
• Ability to work under BSL2+ containment with clinical samples.
• Strong scientific writing skills and demonstrated ability to think and work independently.
• This position requires wet-lab and in vivo mechanistic research; candidates seeking dry-lab-only roles should not apply.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Multiple first-authored publications in high-impact peer-reviewed journals
• Background in liver biology, GI oncology, hepatocellular carcinoma, or metabolic liver disease
• Background in breast cancer biology, tumor immunology, or cancer immunology
• Experience with single-cell multi-omics, spatial transcriptomics, or organoid culture systems
• Familiarity with gut microbiome methodologies including antibiotic depletion models, fecal microbiota transplantation, or 16S/metagenomic sequencing
• Experience with immune profiling techniques including flow cytometry, mass cytometry (CyTOF), or multiplex immunofluorescence
• Experience contributing to grant writing or fellowship applications

Competencies:

• Scientific independence: takes ownership of projects, troubleshoots without hand-holding, and brings solutions rather than just problems
• Productivity & time management: gets things done; manages multiple experiments and deadlines in parallel without dropping the ball
• Critical thinking: asks the right questions, designs clean experiments, and knows when data is telling a different story
• Communication: writes and presents clearly, whether at a lab meeting or submitting a manuscript
• Collaboration: a team player who makes the lab better, not just their own project
• Integrity: does the science right, every time — reproducible, transparent, and rigorous
• Adaptability: adjusts when experiments don't go as planned and keeps moving forward
• Mentorship: genuinely invested in helping junior lab members grow

Physical Requirements:

Lab-based environment. Light lifting or carrying 25 lbs. or less.

Skills:

Training in advanced omics platforms and bioinformatics will be provided. Skills needed: rodent handling, colony maintenance, and genotyping; surgical procedures and tumor implantation models IP, IV, and oral gavage administration; viral vector delivery (AAV8, Ad-Cre, lentivirus), molecular cloning and CRISPR-based genome editing

Additional Information:

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals assigned to this job. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties and responsibilities required of individuals in this job. Other duties may be assigned as determined by management. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential duties and responsibilities of this job.

Equal Employment Opportunity: The University of Louisville is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer, and is committed to providing employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, sex, age, color, national origin, ethnicity, creed, religion, disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and expression, marital status, pregnancy, or veteran status.

If you require assistance or accommodation with our application process due to an impairment or disability, please email the contact listed above directly, or reach out to the Employment team at or . Assistance and Accommodations Computers are available for application submission at the Human Resources Department located at 215 Central Avenue, Ste 205 - Louisville, Kentucky 40208.

About the University of Louisville In 2023, the University of Louisville celebrates its quasquicentennial, the 225th anniversary of the 1798 beginnings of higher education in Louisville. One of the nation’s first city-owned, public universities, UofL today is a vital ecosystem that creates thriving futures for students, our community and society. As one of only 79 universities in the United States to earn recognition by the Carnegie Foundation as both a Research 1 and a Community Engaged university, we impact lives in areas of student success and research and innovation, while our dynamic connection with our local and global communities provides unparalleled opportunities for students and citizens both. The university serves as an engine that powers Metro Louisville and the commonwealth and as a classroom for UofL’s more than 23,000 students, who benefit from partnerships with top employers and a wide range of community service opportunities. To learn more, visit louisville.edu. The University of Louisville is a public university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is a member of the Kentucky state university system.