Postdoctoral Fellow - V Li Lab

Salary for this Role:

From £45,500 with benefits, subject to skills and experience.

Postdoctoral Fellow – Cancer Biologist, V Li Lab

Vivian Li, Senior Group Leader

30 March 2026 23:59 GMT

Postdoctoral Fellow Cancer Biologist – V Li lab

The Francis Crick Institute is Europe’s largest biomedical research institute under one roof. Our world‑class scientists and staff collaborate on vital research to help prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, infectious diseases and neurodefensive conditions.

The Crick is a place for collaboration, innovation and exploration across many disciplines. A space where the brightest minds can pursue big and bold ideas and discover answers to crucial scientific questions. We support them in a dynamic environment which fosters excellence with state‑of‑the‑art infrastructure, cutting‑edge facilities, and a creative and curious culture. We’ve removed traditional boundaries of departments, divisions and disciplines and instead have an open approach that supports every researcher.

This gives us the freedom to take risks and carry out high‑quality, pioneering research. Creating a space for discovery without boundaries helps us to turn our science into benefits for human health and the economy.

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.

Details of research projects currently being undertaken can be seen at

Cell state plasticity is a fundamental process in both health and disease. In the intestine, plasticity plays a pivotal role in cell fate decision, injury‑induced regeneration and cancer. Upon tissue injury, the intestinal epithelium regenerates through transient reprogramming of committed adult cells to a fetal‑like state, a process that is ultimately resolved. In cancer, dynamic shifts in cancer cell states promote tumour progression and therapeutic resistance across multiple cancer types.

Despite extensive knowledge documenting cellular plasticity within the intestinal crypt, it remains unclear how cell state rewiring is initiated and resolved during tissue regeneration, and why plasticity fails to resolve in cancer.

Understanding the role of cell state rewiring in cancer represents a critical frontier for overcoming therapeutic resistance in cancer. The Li laboratory hypothesise that oncogenic mutations and therapeutic pressure drive dynamic cell‑state rewiring through intrinsic and extrinsic signals, and that decoding this rewiring will expose novel, targetable vulnerabilities to overcome therapeutic resistance. To systematically uncover therapeutic vulnerabilities, we will conduct unbiased CRISPR‑Cas9 loss‑of‑function screens in colorectal cancer (CRC) organoids in vitro and in engrafted tumour models in vivo.

We will also perform single‑cell and spatial transcriptomics to map cancer cell state transitions under therapeutic pressure.

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

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…