A postdoctoral fellowship in the field of cancer immunotherapy to work on “Safety-Enhanced Chimeric Antigen Receptors (SECAR)” will be available for a period of 30 months starting from November 2025. This postdoctoral fellowship is funded by Helse Sør -Øst.

The Section for Cellular Therapy has around 40 employees, divided between a clinical Unit (GMP facility) and the Translational Research Unit (counting 18 employees), which is developing pre-clinical solutions in cancer immunotherapy. We have produced the first Norwegian CAR molecule - ananti-CD37CAR (Köksal, Dillard et al. 2019, Caulier et al. 2024). Since then, our collection has grown to almost 20 molecules, prepared either from our own antibody stock or from home-made/self-produced antibodies. Our unit has the capacity to perform full pre-clinical validations of TCR and CAR molecules: Radium-1 TCR was also the first synthetic TCR ever tested in an academic clinical trial in Scandinavia (Radium-1 TCR, NCT03431311; Maggadottir et al. 2024). Furthermore, our discoveries have led to the establishment of two biotech spin-offs: Ultimovacs and Zelluna AS, now Zelluna ASA. We are located at the Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator (https://occincubator.com/), next to the Radium Hospital, which represents an excellent environment for innovative development.

Oslo University Hospital is a workplace with great diversity. We believe this is crucial for solving our tasks in the best possible way. We want this diversity to be reflected among the applicants for our positions, and we encourage all qualified candidates, regardless of background, to apply!

Project description

Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) molecules have shown outstanding therapeutic effects for the treatment of otherwise fatal cancers; however, clinical benefits have so far only been observed in a few tumour types. The present project aims at delivering potent CAR molecules with safer profile for clinical use in cancer.
The focus lies on (but is not restricted to) treatment of AML, B cell malignancies and solid tumours with peritoneal metastases. The current project is based on improvement of molecules that were recently published (Casey et al. 2023, Caulier et al. 2024, Abrantes & Forcados et al. 2025-accepted).However, it also includes the identification, design and testing of new constructs.

Qualifications

The candidates must hold a PhD degree in Biology or Biochemistry. Other corresponding education in science (chemistry, physics, medicine, pharmacy, etc.) will be evaluated.

Knowledge and practical experience in all the following domains are mandatory and should be documented:
-          Immune cell culture (PBMC isolation, primary T-cell manipulation and functional assays)
-          Immunological methods (flowcytometry, ELISA)
-          Animal experiment (FELASA-C or equivalent)
Experience in one or more of the following areas will be considered as an advantage:
-          Molecular biology (cloning, RNA isolation, qPCR, retro- or lentivirus manipulation)
-          Cell biology: spheroid, organoid culture or organ on a chip
-          Protein expression and purification (bacteria or mammalian cells)
-          Immunotherapy: vaccine development, BiTE, immune Receptor work (TCR, CAR, or others)
-          Advanced microscopy (confocal) or live cell imaging

We are looking for a motivated, hard-working and ambitious candidate, who can independently plan and perform experiments, write publications as well as applications and enjoys supervising students. Our team members work on different but related projects, therefore the candidate will have to share and collaborate, as well as participate in common responsibilities. We are a motivated, open and ambitious team which offers a dynamic and modern and well-equipped environment as well as direct access to the hospital core facilities. Furthermore, we support personal development and training in relevant areas.

The application (in English) must include:

Motivation letter (1 page maximum) containing a short description of why you want to join us, how you will contribute to the team and your previous lab experience including the required above-listed mandatory techniques; Other relevant skills can also be included in addition to these
CV (1 page maximum) which should summarize education and previous positions. It should also include a list of laboratory techniques mastered, prizes, grants, awards and all relevant information about your skills
List of publications (2 pages maximum) with a short description of your contribution (patents as well as papers in preparation or submitted can be included)
Official copies of educational certificates (University levels) with grades

Please respect the document length and do not use AI: exceeding document page number, addition of unrequested documents and AI-generated documents will lead to disqualification.

Kontaktinformasjon

Sebastien Philippe Wälchli, Group leader, +4747347052, sebastw@ous-hf.no

Arbeidssted

Ullernchausseen 64
0379 Oslo

Nøkkelinformasjon:

Arbeidsgiver: Oslo universitetssykehus HF

Referansenr.: 5003276864
Stillingsprosent: 100%
Contract
Startdato: 01.11.2025
Søknadsfrist: 08.09.2025

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