Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Computational - Ghajar Lab

Overview

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center is an independent, nonprofit organization providing adult cancer treatment and groundbreaking research focused on cancer and infectious diseases. Based in Seattle, Fred Hutch is the only National Cancer Institute–designated cancer center in Washington.

With a track record of global leadership in bone marrow transplantation, HIV/AIDS prevention, immunotherapy, and COVID‑19 vaccines, Fred Hutch has earned a reputation as one of the world's leading cancer, infectious disease, and biomedical research centers. Fred Hutch operates eight clinical care sites that provide medical oncology, infusion, radiation, proton therapy and related services, and network affiliations with hospitals in five states.

Together, our fully integrated research and clinical care teams seek to discover new cures to the world's deadliest diseases and make life beyond cancer a reality.

At Fred Hutch we value collaboration, compassion, determination, excellence, innovation, integrity and respect. Our mission is directly tied to the humanity, dignity and inherent value of each employee, patient, community member and supporter. Our commitment to learning across our differences and similarities make us stronger. We seek employees who bring different and innovative ways of seeing the world and solving problems.

The Ghajar Laboratory within the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center (Seattle, WA, USA) is searching for a highly motivated postdoctoral research fellow who is equally adept at applying wet‑lab experimental approaches and high‑dimensional computational analyses to study disseminated tumor cell phylogenetics and address long‑standing questions about disseminated tumor cell origins and fates. The candidate would join the laboratory of Cyrus Ghajar, which is focused on defining autonomous and non‑autonomous regulators of disseminated tumor cell fate with the overarching goal of developing therapeutically viable approaches to prevent breast cancer metastasis (e.g., see:
Ghajar Nature Reviews Cancer 2015, Carlson et al., Nature Cell Biology 2019; Goddard et al., Cancer Cell 2024).

Here, we are looking for an individual who is passionate about applying the latest single‑cell DNA and RNA sequencing technologies to study disseminated tumor cell evolution in humans and in mice. Applicants with hybrid wet‑and‑dry lab expertise are especially encouraged, as are those with extensive expertise in one domain who are motivated to expand into the other.

• Develop an innovative and comprehensive strategy applying the latest combinatorial single‑cell DNA and RNA sequencing technologies to study the origin and evolution of disseminated tumor cells in humans and mice.
• Conduct genomic, transcriptomic, phylogenetic, and other analyses based on these data.
• Design and execute experiments to test and understand insights resulting from these analyses.
• Collaborate with other fellows in a dynamic and bustling research environment.
• Present and prepare results for publication.

• PhD (or equivalent) in biology, data science, computer science, bioengineering, physics, or a related field.
• A strong publication record, and a desire to publish highly impactful work.
• Outstanding recommendation letters.
• Eligibility and motivation to apply for postdoctoral fellowships. Having already secured extramural funding will be viewed as a separator.
• A passion for science, an outstanding work ethic, excellent communication and organizational skills, the ability to develop creative approaches to experimental design, and the ability to thrive both in independent research and while working collaboratively.

• Application of single‑cell sequencing to human and/or in vivo cancer models.
• Computational analysis of high‑dimensional data (e.g., single‑cell RNA‑seq, phylogenetics, spatial data).
• Experience in R or Python.

Please send a CV and a brief cover letter describing your research interests and career goals.

The annual base salary range for this position is $80,172 to $95,014, and pay offered will be based on experience and qualifications.

This position may…