Early Career Group Leader Position in Cancer Immunobiology

Application deadline: November 15, 2026

Innovative research focusing on the cross-talk between tumor and immune cells.

The VIB Center for Cancer Biology (VIB CCB) and the Department of Oncology, KU Leuven are recruiting a group leader/professor in Cancer Biology with a research focus on the cross talk between cancer cells and their tumor microenvironment.

VIB is an entrepreneurial and vibrant non‑profit research institute in Flanders-Belgium with a clear focus on groundbreaking research in life sciences. More than 1500 scientists and technologists from over 60 countries are working in 9 thematic research centers located at 4 Flemish Universities (Ghent, Leuven, Antwerp & Brussels) and are studying the broad spectrum of molecular mechanisms that regulate the functions of the human body. VIB encourages and supports risk taking, and enables collaborations with top scientists and institutes world‑wide. By maintaining the highest standards of research, VIB creates an innovative atmosphere and provides a supportive and collegial environment that allows the scientists to launch novel and ambitious research programs and encourages them to translate results into novel therapeutics, diagnostics, applications and technologies. The VIB Center for Cancer Biology (CCB) currently hosts more than 200 scientists in 13 independent research groups and units who work on various hallmarks of tumors and their microenvironment including angiogenesis, inflammation, metabolism, genetic, epigenetic regulating circuits and cancer immunology. Together we share the ambition to contribute to the better understanding of the biology that underlies cancer initiation, progression and metastatic dissemination with the ultimate goal to develop more effective and specific anti‑cancer (combination) therapies.

KU Leuven is the largest and oldest university in Belgium (founded in 1425). It is a leading academic institution in Europe and its mission is to achieve excellent academic education and research. The KU Leuven department of Oncology unites basic and clinical cancer researchers at KU Leuven and the University Hospitals Leuven (UZ Leuven), one of the largest hospitals in Belgium. By creating a strong link between "bed" and "bench", our researchers aim at unraveling crucial mechanisms that underlie cancer initiation, progression and at developing innovative cancer treatments. In particular, we ambition to contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying intratumor heterogeneity, its dynamics during progression & therapy response and its complex interaction with the tumor microenvironment. The Department of Oncology is also engaging into education and fulfills a crucial role in the training of clinicians and cancer researchers. The research facilities are located on Campus Gasthuisberg, which is the home of the health science faculties of the KU Leuven, and the academic hospital (UZ Leuven). UZ Leuven is the largest hospital in Belgium and one of the largest in Europe, and is strongly committed to excellence in clinical care and medical research. The campus offers researchers an excellent environment for fundamental and translational research. To complete our already broad range of expertise, we now wish to recruit an additional expert in Cancer Biology.

Candidate selection is done by both the VIB Center Cancer Biology (CCB) and the department of Oncology, KU Leuven. Thus, the successful candidate must be ranked favorably by both CCB and Oncology.

Research

You will lead a ground‑breaking scientific program addressing basic research questions with a pronounced translational potential. You have a collaborative mindset that will allow you to build bridges between existing research groups at VIB and KU Leuven, as well as with other academic centers and the industry. You will focus on novel omics technologies with a research‑specific focus on oncology and an unmet patient need.

We are particularly interested in researchers working on the cross‑talk between tumors and the innate and adaptive immune system. Ideally, the candidate will develop innovative reductionist (i.e. 3D tumoroid models) approaches and unique in vivo models (i.e. mouse genetics, in vivo lineage tracing, PDXs,…) to gain novel mechanistic insights and directly test the clinical relevance of the findings using human clinical samples.

A dedicated focus on a specific cancer indication and/or underlying biological process (metastatic dissemination, lymph node involvement, circulating tumor cells or specific tumor & micro‑environment interactions, etc. is considered a plus.

Your profile

• You have obtained a PhD degree in the field of the (Bio-) Medical Sciences or another field that provides excellent preparation for the requested research program.
• You have a strong research profile within the aforementioned research domains and the