Development of Novel Cellular Platforms for Immunotherapies

Blood transfusions, bone marrow stem cell transplants, and immunotherapies are fundamental procedures in the treatment of malignant and non-malignant disorders. Among these, cell-based cancer immunotherapy has revolutionised the treatment of haematological malignancies. Specifically, autologous chimeric antigen receptor-engineered T (CAR-T) cell therapies have received approvals for treating leukaemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma following unprecedented clinical response rates.

A critical barrier to the widespread usage of current CAR-T cell products is their autologous nature. These cellular products are patient-selective, and therefore very costly and challenging to manufacture. In contrast, allogeneic cell products can be scalable and readily administrable. Stem cell-derived immune cells could represent potential alternatives to overcome these limitations and offer off-the-shelf therapies. These stem cell-engineered allogeneic cell therapies could include conventional αβ T cells as well as unconventional T cells, natural killer cells and myeloid cells. Most of these cells could be generated independently from haematopoietic stem cells through an endothelial to haematopoietic transition.

In this project, we aim to establish human cell production platforms to generate immune cells for therapeutic production. We will thoroughly define optimal protocols to efficiently and robustly generate these specific therapeutic cells and then evaluate the therapeutic potential of these cells. This project will provide outstanding training in the field of cellular and molecular haematopoiesis, oncology, immune cellular assays, in vivo mouse models, flow cytometry and single-cell omics approaches.

The Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute is proud to be a diverse, open, and global Institute. Our priority, and that of the University of Manchester, is to support our current students and welcome new ones from Europe and other continents, we therefore encourage students of all nationalities to apply for the programme.

https://www.cruk.manchester.ac.uk/

https://www.cruk.manchester.ac.uk/research-group/stem-cell-biology/

We are looking for a hard-working, focused, ambitious person to join our excellent, friendly and interactive team. Our laboratory makes use of a broad range of in vitro and in vivo techniques to study interactions between haematological malignancies and immune cells, with the aim of developing novel therapies for patients. Our approach spans cutting-edge single cell sequencing and epigenetics, through to murine models, biomarker development and clinical trials.

We would be particularly happy to receive applications from individuals with a strong academic track record and Masters-level and/or other laboratory research experience in leukaemia, cancer biology or immunology. Applicants should hold or expected to graduate with a first or minimum upper-second class undergraduate honours degree (or equivalent from a non-UK university) as part of a university degree course.