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Identification and Genetic Engineering of Cytotoxic Tissue NK Cells for Cellular Therapy

The Infectious Diseases Research Group at the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), Barcelona, is seeking an outstanding postdoctoral researcher interested in developing competitive applications for the next Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA-PF).

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions – Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA-PF)

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA-PF) are part of the Horizon Europe programme and support postdoctoral researchers in developing an original research and innovation project through international mobility.

The programme aims to strengthen researchers’ careers through excellent science, international collaboration and interdisciplinary experience, while fostering integration in both academic and non-academic environments. The MSCA-PF call is highly competitive and represents an excellent opportunity to attract international talent and support researchers in consolidating their scientific careers through an ambitious mobility-based fellowship.

The 2026 call closes on 09/09/2026 (17:00 Brussels time). For candidates applying to a European Postdoctoral Fellowship, the fellowship duration is from 12 to 24 months.

Full eligibility details: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2026

Background

The project is based on the emerging role of tissue-resident and tissue-adapted immune cells in immune surveillance, chronic inflammation, viral persistence and cancer control. Among them, Natural Killer (NK) cells are promising candidates for immunotherapy due to their intrinsic cytotoxic activity against infected and transformed cells. However, current NK-cell therapies mainly rely on peripheral blood-derived NK cells, which often show limited persistence and tissue functionality. Recent advances in tissue immunology and single-cell technologies have revealed extensive heterogeneity among human tissue NK-cell populations, including subsets with enhanced cytotoxicity, adaptive-like features and tissue-residency programs. Nevertheless, their functional characterisation and therapeutic exploitation remain poorly understood.

Our laboratory combines human tissue models with advanced immunological and molecular approaches to identify and characterise tissue-associated NK-cell subsets with potent effector functions. The research integrates high-dimensional phenotyping, functional assays, ex vivo tissue explants and genetic engineering strategies, including CRISPR-based approaches, to develop next-generation NK-cell therapies for cancer and infectious diseases.

Objective

• • To identify and characterise human tissue-associated NK-cell subsets with enhanced cytotoxic and persistence capacities using advanced immunophenotyping, single-cell analyses and functional tissue models.
• • To define the molecular and functional programs underlying tissue adaptation and antitumor/antiviral activity of NK cells within human tissue microenvironments.
• • To develop and evaluate genetically engineered NK-cell products with improved therapeutic potential for next-generation cellular immunotherapy.

Main responsibilities and duties:

• • The candidate will work at the interface of tissue immunology, translational immunotherapy and cell engineering within a highly collaborative research environment
• • The candidate will benefit from a highly collaborative international environment and access to state-of-the-art core facilities, including flow cytometry, genomics, imaging and preclinical platforms.