Group Leader, Gene Regulation (Biohub NY)

The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub New York (CZ Biohub NY) (https://www.czbiohub.org/ny/) is an independent nonprofit research institute that brings together three powerhouse universities - Columbia University, The Rockefeller University, and Yale University - into a single collaborative technology and discovery engine. CZ Biohub NY itself supports some of the brightest, boldest engineers, data scientists, and biomedical researchers to investigate the fundamental mechanisms underlying disease and develop new technologies that will lead to actionable diagnostics and effective therapies. We are guided by our values of scholarly excellence; disruptive innovation; hands-on engineering/hacking/building; partnership and collaboration; open communication and respect; inclusiveness; and opportunity for all.

Our Vision                                                                     

• We pursue large scientific challenges that cannot be pursued in conventional environments
• We enable individual investigators to pursue their riskiest and most innovative ideas
• The technologies developed at CZ Biohub facilitate research by scientists and clinicians at our home institutions and beyond

Diversity of thought, ideas, and perspectives are at the heart of CZ Biohub Network and enable disruptive innovation and scholarly excellence. We are committed to cultivating an organization where all colleagues feel inspired and know their work makes an important contribution.

The Opportunity

The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub New York (CZ Biohub NY) is seeking an exceptional scientist to join our team as a Group Leader, an independent researcher role equivalent to Principal Investigator, within the CZ Biohub Network. The ideal candidate will lead the Gene Regulation Lab, driving transformative discoveries by elucidating the role of gene regulation in controlling immune function, lineage specification, and cell lineage/state reprogramming, with potential applications to cancer, neurodegenerative, and other aging-related diseases.

As Group Leader, you will have the opportunity to recruit and mentor world-class scientists to your lab, fostering an innovative research environment focused on understanding the mechanisms of immune cell regulation in both physiological and pathological organism conditions. Key research areas include, investigating fundamental mechanisms of gene regulation on the chromatin, including at gene promoters’ and enhancers’ level, understanding how regulatory and signaling networks modulate immune cell lineage specification, maturation, and overall function, and designing strategies to leverage gene regulation to reprogram immune cells to a desired state. For instance, elucidating mechanisms that contribute to recruiting and or reprogramming immune cells to an immune-evasive state in the tumor microenvironment and designing strategies to reprogram cells to a non-immunosuppressive state.  The ultimate goal of this research is to advance the development of precision, promoter/enhancer-based genomic medicine to treat diseases rooted in immune dysfunction and reprogramming.

For consideration, applicants should submit a C.V., research statement, and 3 letters of recommendation.

What You'll Do

• Lead and actively participate in an innovative, vigorous, and collaborative research program, aligned with the mission of CZ Biohub NY, dedicated to advancing understanding of the human immune system and of its re-engineering to monitor and effect organ homeostasis, resulting in compelling record of innovation and scientific publication
• Play a key role in our collaborative efforts to understand how immune cells may drive cancer progression or neurodegenerative disease by leveraging molecular-level understanding of gene regulation
• Develop a compelling, transformative research vision aligned with the overarching objectives of the CZ Biohub New York and providing technical guidance and mentorship to team members
• Engage with colleagues throughout the Biohub Network to uphold our values of scholarly excellence, innovation, open communication, open science, hands-on collaboration, and partnership
• Communicate progress and results to colleagues and to the leadership team
• Publish and disseminate impactful findings and the products of your research as preprints (medRxiv, bioRxiv) and/or software repositories (e.g., GitHub)
• Collaborate with the CZ Biohub team to patent