hiring

Current Funded Positions

Postdoc or Research Engineer: Physics of bacterial biofilm nucleation

We are looking for a Postdoc or Engineer with experience and/or a passion for digital holographic microscopy (DHM) and light sheet fluorescence microscopy.  The project will build a microscope, from scratch, which combines the two modalities in order to i) track bacteria in 3D over large fields of view and with high spatial and time resolution, and ii) observe the swimming to surface-adhered transition that nucleates a biofilm and interogate surface-induced intracellular changes via fluorescent biomarkers.  The ideal candidate may have a background in optics and/or in methods of numerical reconstruction.  Experience in machine learning and programming GPUs would be a plus.  Experience working with bacteria is not necessary, but welcome! To apply, or for more details, email Ashley.

PhD: Biophysics of the Campylobacter Jejuni bacterial flagellar motor

We have an open position for a PhD (3 years) for a joint project with the University of Chicago and the Nirody lab.  The project, jointly funded by the French CNRS and U Chicago, aims to characterize the biophysics of the bacterial flagellar motor of Campylobacter Jejuni, a common food-borne pathogen, and to establish C. jejuni as an emerging model organism for the study of flagellated bacterial motility. The project is pluridisciplinary, at the interface of physics and microbiology. The PhD student will use a combination of single molecule microscopy, optical tweezers, electromagnetic tweezers, and microfluidics to study the dyanamics of the polar motors of C. jejuni and the mechanism of their motility. The student will also spend time working in the Nirody lab and transferring techniques and technology between the two labs. The project will also work in close collaboration with the Beeby lab. The ideal candidates will have a strong background in physics, biophysics, or quantitative biology, and scientific programming is a plus. To apply, or for more details, email Ashley.

PhD: biophysics of bacterial physiology

We have an open position for a PhD (3 years) in single-cell bacterial electro-physiology and its relation to surface sensing and biofilm formation. The project is based on the experimental study of the Bacterial Flagellar Motor, and follows our recent results on the study of the Proton Motive Force in E.coli, revealed by the activity of individual flagellar motors on living cells. The project is pluridisciplinary, at the boundaries of physics, microbiology, and electro-chemistry. The ideal candidates has a strong background in physics and experimental biophysics (single cell, single molecule), as well as good knowledge of molecular (micro)biology, and scientific programming. To apply, or for more details, email Ashley or Francesco.

Other

Interested in any aspect of our work?  Please get in touch to discuss the possibility of jointly applying for Masters, PhD, or postdoc funding.