The Johnston Laboratory is an interdisciplinary and highly collaborative team of microbiologists, synthetic biologists, and engineers dedicated to developing microbial cell therapies (MCTs) for cancer treatment. Our long-term goal is to harness the tumor-colonizing capabilities of specific microbes and engineer them as programmable therapeutic platforms for targeted payload delivery within the tumor microenvironment.
To realize this vision, we are building the genetic toolkits necessary to enable precise and scalable engineering of non-model, tumor-associated microbes. This includes development of transformation protocols, counterselection systems, modular expression cassettes, and immune-modulatory payloads, all within a translational context. We use insights from tumor microbiome profiling to guide engineering efforts and test these strains in vitro and in preclinical models of solid tumors.
We are seeking a well-organized, highly motivated postdoctoral fellow with extensive ex...