Postdoctoral Research Fellow/Sciensits – Immunology and Inflammatory Microproteins

Microproteins are an emerging and largely unexplored layer of the human proteome, offering major opportunities to uncover new biology and therapeutic targets. The Ho Lab is seeking an outstanding Postdoctoral Research Fellow with expertise in immunology, inflammation, or systems immunology to discover and mechanistically characterize microproteins that regulate intercellular communication and immune responses.

You will investigate how novel microproteins control immune-cell activation, cytokine networks, and resolution of inflammation, integrating mechanistic experimentation with large-scale molecular datasets and human disease studies. You will work across basic, computational, and clinical research, with access to advanced approaches including primary immune-cell models, single-cell omics, proteomics, CRISPR screening, and human disease systems.

This is an opportunity to pursue high-impact, discovery-driven research in a rapidly expanding field, lead publications, build an independent scientific profile, and potentially translate discoveries toward new disease-modifying therapies and biotech opportunities for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
 

Job Scope and Opportunities:

• Design and carry out mechanistic studies to understand how specific microproteins regulate immune cell activation, communication, and resolution of inflammation.
• Develop, refine, and apply functional immune assays to measure the impact of these molecules on cytokine networks, immune cell phenotypes, and inflammatory readouts.
• Work closely with collaborators who generate large‑scale datasets to translate correlative findings into clear, testable biological hypotheses and targeted experiments.
• Work closely with clinical collaborator to guide efficacy studies and understand disease biology. 
• Contribute to the prioritization of microprotein candidates with the strongest evidence for involvement in human inflammatory and autoimmune conditions.
• Present results in lab and consortium meetings, and lead or co‑lead manuscripts and reports arising from this work.
• Maintain high standards of experimental rigor, documentation, and reproducibility, and help foster a supportive, collaborative lab culture.

Essential Qualifications

• PhD in Immunology or Computational Biology (with a focus on systems immunology), with a strong foundation in molecular mechanisms of adaptive and/or innate immune mechanisms.
• Hands‑on experience working with primary immune cells and immune functional assays (for example, cytokine profiling, immune activation assays, or immune cell phenotyping).
• Demonstrated proficiency in core molecular and cell biology techniques relevant to mechanistic immunology research.
• Track record of productivity and scientific impact, evidenced by publications or preprints in immunology, inflammation, or related areas.
• Ability to analyze and interpret complex datasets in partnership with computational colleagues, and to turn data into clear mechanistic models and experimental plans.
• Excellent communication skills and a collaborative approach to working in multidisciplinary teams.

Desirable Experience

• Prior research on immune signalling, chronic inflammation, autoimmunity, or fibrotic complications of immune dysregulation.
• Organoid models of human immunity, or animal models of chronic inflammation
• Expertise in advanced immune phenotyping (e.g. spatial omics, single‑cell omics including deep learning, O-link proteomics, Crispr screening, human PBMC workflows etc).
• Expertise in extracellular proteins, receptors, including ligand-receptor elucidation
• Immunology drug development

Personal Attributes

• Deep curiosity about new and underexplored aspects of immune regulation, and enthusiasm for working on “dark” areas of the proteome with high discovery potential.
• Critical and independent thinker who can design, execute, and interpret mechanistic experiments while engaging constructively with feedback.
• Extremely organized, reliable, and proactive, with strong problem‑solving skills and ownership over scientific projects.
• Enjoys working in a highly interactive environment that spans basic biology, computation, and clinical science, and is motivated by the long‑term goal of enabling new treatments for inflammatory disease

Interested applicants should send a CV and statement of research purpose to careers@ho-lab.org.