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Program Description

The UNC-Chapel Hill Immunotherapy T32 Training Grant (IM-TAG) at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center is funded by a National Cancer Institute T32 training grant. The program trains postdoctoral fellows in pre-clinical and/or clinical research focusing on tumor immunotherapy and/or stem cell transplantation immunology. All UNC Lineberger postdoctoral researchers and clinicians interested in this area are eligible to apply. External candidates may also apply.

Program Terms

The IM-TAG program supports up to two MD, MD/PhD and PhD trainees per year.

Trainees are able to select from 20 faculty mentors with outstanding qualifications in vaccine design and vector generation, adoptive cellular therapy, novel approaches to understand the function of checkpoint inhibitors, the role of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment and enhancing our understanding of the biology of immune cells in stem cell transplantation.

Training support lasts for a maximum of two years with support in the second year contingent upon progress made in the first year of support.

The program offers a novel mechanism for training with an emphasis on didactic coursework in statistical design, bioinformatics and proteomics, and seminar courses. All trainees will participate in Immunotherapy Working Groups, which are translational teams that assist in the development of novel immunotherapies, in understanding how to generate products in a cGMP-compliant manner and to ensuring compliance with government agencies for the generation of products under an individual or institutional IND.

Eligibility

Postdoctoral candidates who have already been accepted into a research laboratory or clinical fellowship program at UNC are eligible to join the program after completion of at least one year of postdoctoral training.

All individuals who are supported must be a citizen, non-citizen national of the United States, or have been lawfully admitted for permanent residence at the time of the appointment.

Highly qualified external candidates may be invited for an in-person interview.

Individuals from under-represented groups in research are highly encouraged to apply.

Criteria

Applicants will be selected based on the following criteria:

  • Academic qualifications and previous research experience
  • Desire to do clinical or translational immune-based transplant/stem cell biomedical research
  • Mentor support and funding

Application Review

Review will be conducted by the IM-TAG Steering Committee with applications being evaluated within 1-3 months of acceptance.

Application

Proposals must include (in this order):

  • A Cover Letter outlining your past research experience, future goals, and expectations of the program
  • Biosketch in NIH format
  • 1-2 page description of your research project and how it relates to tumor or transplant immunology
  • Mentor Biosketch
  • Three (3) Letters of Recommendations from academic, research, or clinical references who have known you for at least 12 months
    • One (1) of the letters must be from your mentor for the program