Job Overview
The Le Pen Lab at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases) seeks a Postdoctoral Fellow to join research on innate immunity to RNA viruses.
The position is funded by the NIH Director's New Innovator Award (DP2), "Next-Generation Interferons: Mapping and Engineering Antiviral Function" (NIAID, 2026-2031).
The research addresses why common viral infections cause little harm in most individuals yet lead to life-threatening or chronic disease in others, investigating the cell-intrinsic mechanisms of innate immunity.
Work focuses on long-lived, irreplaceable cell types such as neurons and pancreatic beta cells, which must survive infection while keeping their specialized functions.
The DP2 project attempts to uncouple the wanted and undesired effects of interferon, combining human genetics, functional screening, and cell biology.
The fellow will take on a substantial part of this program, with scope to develop an original research direction; the DP2 runs until 2031, giving a long funding horizon.
The lab, established in December 2024, has dedicated space and BSL-2+/BSL-3 access on the Harvard medical campus in Longwood, and fellows are supported in attending conferences, giving talks, writing proposals, and mentoring.
Basic qualifications: a PhD in immunology, virology, genetics, molecular biology, structural biology or a related field; strong skills in experimental design, data analysis, and communication; proficiency in standard cell culture and molecular biology techniques.
A publishing record is expected; expertise in interferon biology, innate immunity or virology, structural biology, or bioinformatics is a plus.
The PGY salary scale runs $70,000-$86,091; to apply, email a CV, letter of interest, and three references.