Research Associate

A postdoctoral position in cancer biology and tumor microenvironment research is immediately available in the laboratory of Chen Cao in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Texas at Dallas. The research associate will lead projects investigating how spatial organization, cell-cell interactions, and the physical microenvironment regulate tumor cell states, invasion, and therapeutic responses.

The project integrates cancer biology with engineered tumor microenvironment models and quantitative imaging. Research may involve human head and neck or breast cancer models, fibroblasts, immune populations, 2D/3D cell culture, patient-derived models, biomaterials or bioprinting, perturbation experiments, and single-cell or spatial profiling. The successful candidate is expected to take scientific ownership of the project, interpret data critically, formulate testable hypotheses, and define the most informative next experiments.