Post Doctoral Researcher (Level 1) in Cancer Immunology - University of Limerick
Details:
OVERALL PURPOSE OF JOB: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a cancer of CD5+ B lymphocytes that accumulate in the blood, bone marrow, and secondary lymphoid organs, causing fatigue, frequent infections, weight loss, and hypogammaglobulinemia. The clinical course of CLL is varied. Patients with CLL can be broadly divided into 2 groups; those with mutated immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region (IgHV), M-CLL, who have the best prognosis and those with an unmutated IgHV who have more aggressive disease (U-CLL). All patients are immunocompromised, fail to respond to vaccination and are prone to recurrent infection. Understanding how the complex interactions between the somatic driver mutations, B cell signaling, and the tumour microenvironment determines disease course is important to allow better prognostication and personalised treatment plans. Patients can be categorised based on somatic mutations (Robbe et al. Nature Genetics volume54, pages1675–1689 (2022). However, while there are known defects in CLL patients’ immunity e.g., increased Treg cell frequency, skewed monocyte subsets; a global picture of CLL patients’ immune phenotype is lacking. The goal of this project is to define the immune phenotype in CLL patients with the goal of integrating with tumour genetic profiling to refine patient prognosis and identify those at highest risk of infection.
The project is funded under the AICRI-Start project (AICRI) and the candidate will collaborate with cancer researchers from Trinity College Dublin and University of Ulster on this project. The Project at University of Limerick is jointly supervised by Dr. Elizabeth Ryan | University of Limerick (ul.ie) and Prof. Ruth Clifford | University of Limerick (ul.ie).
Standard Duties and Responsibilities of the Post:
Develop research project to examine the immune system in CLL patients employing cutting edge immunology techniques.
To apply:
Complete the application form and submit letter and CV on the University of Limerick Job vacancy page.
Further Information for Applicants:
Any questions, feel free to contact Elizabeth.Ryan@ul.ie
Deadline:
Please include deadline with date and time. Oct 11, 2023 @12.00
More details on the role can be found in the document below: