Tenure Track Faculty in Tumor Virology
The McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH), is searching for a full-time tumor virology faculty position at the tenure track Assistant or Associate Professor level. We are seeking exceptional candidates whose research is focused on understanding how viruses cause human cancer, using basic, mechanistic studies of how viruses interact with their host cells to infect, persist and induce cancer.
The new hire for this position will move into an extremely strong, supportive research environment with an unusually large, highly interactive and collaborative community of virologists. This includes many tumor virologists, a priority area already bolstered by several recent hires. These tumor virologists also participate in and benefit from the Human Cancer Virology Program within the University’s NCI-designated comprehensive Carbone Cancer Center, and from our partnerships with the UW Institute for Molecular Virology, the private Morgridge Institute for Research, and other campus units. We are looking for candidates who will interact productively with these and other faculty in this highly collegial and collaborative academic environment.
Candidates should have a proven record of studying one or more tumor viruses, demonstrate the potential to establish a productive, extramurally funded research program, and describe how they will contribute to mentoring and teaching undergraduate, graduate and professional students, as is fundamental to our academic mission. The successful candidate will also be expected to participate in professional, university, and community service appropriate to rank. Specific qualifications include:
- An M.D. or Ph.D. in virology, oncology, biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology, genetics or closely related fields required.
- A productive record of established scholarship of national and international significance in tumor virus biology. Areas of particular interest to this search include but are not limited to understanding how human tumor viruses cause cancer, links between viruses and antiviral defenses including intrinsic, innate, or adaptive immunity, and the use of in vitro and/or in vivo models for studying human tumor viruses.
- 3 years minimum post-doctoral experience in tumor virology is preferred.
The position is anticipated to start on July 1, 2025. This vacancy is being posted simultaneously in two announcements (Position Vacancy Job #306433 and #306437), allowing the School of Medicine and Public Health to consider candidates with either PhD or MD degrees.
Applications submitted by December 15, 2024 will be assured full consideration. However, the position will remain open and applications may be considered until filled.
Candidates holding a Ph.D. should visit job # 306433 https://jobs.wisc.edu/jobs/tenure-track-faculty-in-tumor-virology-madison-wisconsin-united-states-3b291f8e-019d-4cb3-8989-374e67b67f54
Candidates holding an M.D. should visit job # 306437 https://jobs.wisc.edu/jobs/tenure-track-faculty-in-tumor-virology-madison-wisconsin-united-states-c6a111f5-c8f4-4b22-abec-938504d20aea
SMPH is committed to being a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and anti-racist workplace and is an Equal Employment Opportunity, Affirmative Action employer.
Posted 10/28/2024
Postdoc position: Laboratory of Paul F. Lambert
I am looking for an individual with expertise in immunology and interest in working with preclinical animal models (mice) to explore mechanisms by which papillomaviruses, which cause 5% of all human cancers, evade host immunity to establish persistent infection that lead to cancer. Studies will build on pioneering work over the last 5 years in which we discovered one mechanism. Other studies will explore the mechanism by which the female hormone, estrogen, alters the immune system to allow papillomaviruses to infect and persist in their host, based upon other recent studies from our lab. Our lab is located in the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, which is a basic cancer research component of the NCI-designated Carbone Cancer Center in the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. McArdle has a large, highly interactive team of investigators studying multiple human tumor viruses, whose research is supported by one of the longest funded NCI Program Project Grants (P01). My goal as a mentor is to prepare you for a successful career in science. Reflective of that, many of my past postdoctoral trainees have gone on to faculty positions, including three in the last 15 months. To apply, please send me (Paul F Lambert, plambert@wisc.edu) your CV, and a 1-2 page statement about your research accomplishments to date, plans for graduation if you are still pursuing your Ph.D. degree, and your career ambitions. Please also include a list of at least three references, including your Ph.D. advisor(s). I will reach out to your references to request letters from them if I think there is potentially a good fit. I will look at applications on a rolling basis.
Lambert Lab Research Description
Our lab’s research is focused on understanding the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in cancer. HPVs cause 5% of all human cancers. These include cervical cancer, other anogenital cancers and a growing proportion of head and neck cancers. Through the use of genetically engineered mice (GEM) we have developed models for HPV-associated cervical, anal and head/neck carcinogenesis, defined the individual roles of viral oncogenes in carcinogenesis in these organs, identified the mechanisms of action by which these oncogenes contribute to carcinogenesis, defined their temporal role in carcinogenesis, and defined the roles of estrogen and its receptor in cervical carcinogenesis and the utility of estrogen receptor antagonists in treating and preventing cervical cancer. Major current directions in the lab that make continued use of the GEM models include understanding the interplay between viral oncogenes and cellular signaling and DNA damage response pathways in causing cancer, and the influences of viral genes on epigenetic regulation and epithelial stem cell biology.
In recent years we have complemented our use of GEM models with the development patient derived xenografts (PDX) models in which human cancers are directly grafted and passaged in immune-deficient mice. PDX models provide us the ability to test new therapeutic approaches for treating human cancers that we have identified through our studies using the GEM models. For example, using our GEM model for HPV-associated anal cancer, we identified that the cellular mTOR pathway is activated, and its inhibition by rapamycin suppresses anal cancer growth. We then demonstrated the therapeutic value of rapamycin in treating human anal cancer using the first human anal cancer PDX model. Likewise, working with our clinical colleagues we have now established an array of PDX models for both HPV-positive and HPV-negative human head and neck cancers that will be used alongside our GEM models for these cancers to define novel therapeutic approaches for treating these cancers.
The papillomaviral life cycle is intricately tied to the differentiation of the host epithelium it infects. Using artificial skin cultures wherein we can recapitulate all the stages of the viral life cycle in differentiating epithelium, we continue our efforts to dissect the role of viral genes and cellular pathways in the viral life cycle. Recently, we established a mouse papillomavirus infection model in laboratory mice. This new model will allow us to use the power of mouse genetics to better understand virus-host interactions involved in infection and possibly also virally-induced cancers.
Posted 10/28/2024