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Revealing deep insights into the fundamental organization and processes of biological systems.

The Backman Lab focuses on elucidating the function of the human genome and its dysregulation in disease, enabled by the development of new nanoscale imaging, predictive computational genomics, and computational electrodynamics technologies that lead to new methods for regulation of global patterns of gene expression and their clinical translation for disease diagnostics and therapeutics.

Vadim Backman, PhD, has been named Associate Director for Research Technology and Infrastructure at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, effective October 1.

In addition to this new role, Backman, the Walter Dill Scott Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, will continue to serve as Leader of the Cancer and Physical Sciences (CAPS) Program at the Lurie Cancer Center.

As Associate Director, Backman will oversee Lurie Cancer Center’s infrastructure for interdisciplinary programs and initiatives, which include the center’s 15 Shared Resources that foster basic, clinical and translational research. He will also lead the development of innovative tools, technologies and services to support emerging disciplines across the cancer center. Read More…

The following Postdoctoral Fellow Positions are available:

• Postdoctoral Fellow or Research Faculty – Group Leader in Cancer Biology  Read more…
• Postdoctoral fellow in Optics with a focus on developing endoscopic optical coherence tomography (OCT) technologies. Read more…
• Postdoctoral fellow in Computational Genomics  Read more…

Postdoctoral candidates may e-mail a cover letter and CV to Benjamin Keane at b-keane@northwestern.edu

Graduate Student Positions:

Please contact Prof. Backman to discuss potential projects.

New Backman Lab Paper in Science Advances Demonstrates Relationship Between Disordered Chromatin Packing and Cancer Patient Survival

An inverse relationship between patient survival and phenotypic plasticity of tumor cells has been identified. More here

New Members Joining the Team

The Backman Lab welcomes IBiS graduate student Lucas Carter to the group!

Other new members that recently joined the team: postdoctoral fellows Dr. Sunil K. Gaire and Dr. Cody Dunton, and Joshua Pritchard, research technologist.

Lab Picnic (post COVID-19), 2021

After 18 months of Zoom meetings, zillions of e-mails, social distancing, masks, tons of hand sanitizer, gallons of disinfectant, lonely working hours, depressing walks through an empty campus, virtual lab tours, welcoming new team members virtually and the unprecedented challenges we all faced, we were finally able to throw our masks up in the air (under the chin, for some) and finally meet again!

We welcomed new colleagues (both 2- and 4-legged) and waved farewell to the ones who recently graduated. It was the first time we saw each other in over a year and for some, the first time meeting in person.

These are some memories of a great day… to enjoy while we plan the next one!

Holiday Dinner, 2019

The Backman Lab members and their families got together to celebrate the Holiday season and take note of the year’s many achievements.

New Research Targets Cancer’s ‘Achilles’ Heel’

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