Identification and Genetic Engineering of Cytotoxic
Tissue NK Cells for Cellular Therapy The Infectious Diseases
Research Group at the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR),
Barcelona, is seeking an outstanding postdoctoral researcher
interested in developing competitive applications for the next
Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA-PF). Marie
Skłodowska-Curie Actions – Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA-PF) The
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA-PF) are part
of the Horizon Europe programme and support postdoctoral
researchers in developing an original research and innovation
project through international mobility. The programme aims to
strengthen researchers’ careers through excellent science,
international collaboration and interdisciplinary experience, while
fostering integration in both academic and non-academic
environments. The MSCA-PF call is highly competitive and represents
an excellent opportunity to attract international talent and
support researchers in consolidating their scientific careers
through an ambitious mobility-based fellowship. The 2026 call
closes on 09/09/2026 (17:00 Brussels time). For candidates applying
to a European Postdoctoral Fellowship, the fellowship duration is
from 12 to 24 months . Full eligibility details: MSCA Postdoctoral
Fellowships 2026 Background The project is based on the emerging
role of tissue-resident and tissue-adapted immune cells in immune
surveillance, chronic inflammation, viral persistence and cancer
control. Among them, Natural Killer (NK) cells are promising
candidates for immunotherapy due to their intrinsic cytotoxic
activity against infected and transformed cells. However, current
NK-cell therapies mainly rely on peripheral blood-derived NK cells,
which often show limited persistence and tissue functionality.
Recent advances in tissue immunology and single-cell technologies
have revealed extensive heterogeneity among human tissue NK-cell
populations, including subsets with e