Post-doctoral Scientist Position in Glioma Stem Cell and Neurodevelopmental Biology Laboratory

The Molecular Neuro-Oncology Translational Research Laboratory at Weill Cornell Medicine invites applications from ambitious and creative scientists for a postdoctoral fellowship. Our mission is to develop transformative therapies for glioblastoma (GBM) by understanding the disease on its own biological terms, within the complex context of the human central nervous system. We are entering an exciting phase of expansion, supported by robust, multi-year funding, and seek colleagues who wish to tackle one of oncology’s most persistent challenges in an environment offering genuine intellectual freedom.

The central challenge in our field has been the failure of preclinical models to predict clinical efficacy, a problem we address by conceptually reframing the disease. We operate from the hypothesis that glioblastoma is best understood not as a conventional tumor, but as an aberrant neuroepithelial organ that pathologically integrates into the host brain’s circuitry, creating unique network-level vulnerabilities. At the heart of our program is the GLICO (Glioma-in-a-Cerebral-Organoid)platform, a system we pioneered where patient-derived glioma stem cells are grown within human cerebral organoids^.This high-fidelity model recreates cardinal features of GBM in situ—including diffuse invasion and dynamic calcium signaling-based networks—and, as confirmed by single-cell analyses, more faithfully recapitulates patient tumor cell states than any other established model. This platform serves as the foundation for a purpose-built discovery engine where we conduct high-throughput screens and perform deep mechanistic deconstruction of tumor-host interactions. We dissect these complex systems using a suite of state-of-the-art technologies, including spatial transcriptomics, single-cell ATAC-seq, and CRISPR-based functional genomics like Perturb-seq, with our integrative analyses often employing computational approaches such as agent-based modeling to deconstruct gene-regulatory networks and predict system behaviors.

As a postdoctoral fellow, you will be empowered to own a project end-to-end, from model design and assay development to data generation, analysis, and publication. You will be immersed in a scientifically rich and collaborative ecosystem within the Tri-Institutional community of Weill Cornell, Rockefeller University, and Memorial Sloan Kettering. You will have access to extensive institutional resources and will be supported by an individualized mentorship structure designed to foster scientific independence and career advancement. Prior trainees from this program have gone on to successful careers in both academia and industry, and the lab maintains a strong commitment to the long-term development of its members.

Candidates should hold a PhD or MD/PhD in a relevant field and demonstrate evidence of scientific rigor, creativity, and productivity. To apply, please send a current CV, a brief statement of your scientific interests to Dr. Howard Fine at haf9016@med.cornell.edu.