Staff Scientist

Department BSD RAO - Research Staff About the Department ​​The Jie Zhou lab is part of Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Chicago. In close collaboration with the UC Comprehensive Cancer Center, the lab works at the interface of chemistry and biology to uncover how protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) and their associated enzymes regulate disease-relevant cell signaling and immune function.

By understanding these mechanisms, we aim to identify new opportunities for targeted therapeutic intervention. ​Bringing together chemical biologists and protein, antibody, and cell engineers, we use advanced approaches in chemical biology, biochemistry, protein engineering, and synthetic biology to design innovative molecules, reveal complex biological mechanisms, and help drive the next generation of therapeutic breakthroughs. ​​We employ a broad and integrated technology base, including synthetic chemistry, proteomics, functional genomics, and protein, antibody, and cell engineering.

We also leverage combinatorial selection platforms such as phage, yeast, cell, and viral display, coupled with next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics. By integrating diverse expertise and technologies, we aim to advance understanding of human disease and inform the design of future immunotherapies.​ Job Summary We are seeking a highly motivated scientist to lead the discovery and engineering of functional antibodies for therapeutic applications. The successful candidate will build on an established viral display platform for the selection of functional antibodies and extend it across a broad range of therapeutic antibody formats and disease targets.

This is a hands-on, project-leading role with substantial scope for independent scientific direction, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and first-author publication.

Responsibilities ​​Builds and expands a systematic atlas of functional antibody–receptor pairs, mapping which surface receptors yield productive antibody engagement across tumor and normal tissue contexts. ​Designs and characterizes biparatopic and bispecific antibodies that improve receptor clustering, functional activity, and tumor selectivity. ​Develops ligand-controlled destabilization domains to enable conditional, dose-tunable control of engineered antibody activity and reduce on-target off-tumor effects. ​Designs and constructs protein and cell-based reagents, including expression constructs, engineered reporter cell lines, and stable receptor-expressing panels. ​Executes display-based selection campaigns across phage, yeast, and mammalian viral display to isolate functional antibodies with defined therapeutic properties. ​Develops and runs cell-based assays to evaluate binder candidates for functional potency. ​Assesses the safety and efficacy of therapeutic candidates generated in-house, using in vitro selectivity panels and in vivo efficacy and tolerability studies. ​Maintains and improves platform infrastructure…

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