hiring

Current Funded Positions

Research Engineer (IR or IE): Optical instrumentation and custom microscopes

We are recruiting a research engineer (IE or IR) to design, build, optimize, and program new microscopy platforms. You will contribute to several ongoing and upcoming systems, including a phase-contrast plus fluorescence microscope with IR-based autofocus for highly stable, very long time-lapse measurements, an epifluorescence microscope integrated with optical tweezers (tweezers already built) with a focus on system integration, synchronization, and automated acquisition, a digital holographic microscope coupled with light sheet fluorescence, and a bioluminescence imaging setup for low-light measurements and long-term automated imaging. The role combines hands-on optical alignment and performance optimization (stability, SNR, drift), hardware integration (cameras, stages, illumination, shutters, autofocus, triggers), and development of control and acquisition software in LabVIEW and/or Python, along with documentation, calibration and diagnostic routines, and day-to-day support for instrument users. We are looking for a strong experimental optics/instrumentation profile (physics/optics training), with experience building and troubleshooting optical setups and an interest in writing robust, maintainable instrument-control code, and experience in microscopy, fluorescence, low-light imaging, hardware triggering/DAQ, and version control is a plus. This is a 1-year position, renewable. To apply, or for more details, email Ashley.

Postdoc or Research Engineer: Digital Holographic Microscopy

We are recruiting either a Postdoctoral Researcher or a Research Engineer (IR or IE) to develop the optical design, numerical reconstruction algorithms, and data analysis pipelines for digital holographic microscopy applied to flowing red blood cells and swimming bacteria, with opportunities to incorporate modern machine-learning approaches where relevant. The project combines experimental constraints with heavy computation, including forward and inverse modeling of hologram formation, robust phase and amplitude reconstruction, high-throughput processing of large datasets, and extraction of biophysical observables such as cell shape dynamics, flow-dependent deformation, trajectories, and swimming kinetics. The role includes implementing and validating reconstruction and analysis workflows (Python and/or similar scientific computing environments), improving speed and reliability (clean software architecture, reproducibility, testing, version control), and working closely with experimentalists to connect algorithmic outputs to ground-truth measurements and instrument parameters; experience in computational imaging, inverse problems, and scientific software is essential, and experience in optics and microscopy is a strong plus. Familiarity with machine learning for reconstruction, denoising, segmentation, or tracking (e.g., deep learning toolkits and GPU workflows) is highly valued, but not required if you have a strong physics/maths foundation and excellent coding skills. This is a 1-year position, renewable. To apply, or for more details, email Ashley.

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.

Master Internship: Evaporation and Survival of Bacteria-Laden Droplets: The Role of Alginate 

The transmission and persistence of bacterial pathogens in aerosols and on surfaces are cru cial factors in infection spread. During coughing or sneezing, droplets containing bacteria or viruses are expelled and rapidly dry, exposing microorganisms to intense osmotic and desicca-

tion stresses. Despite this, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a major opportunistic pathogen, shows remarkable survival in aerosols. This enhanced survival has been linked to the production of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), in particular alginate, a polysaccharide that modifies

the rheological properties of the surrounding fluid. However, the physical mechanisms underlying this protective effect remain poorly understood, especially at the scale of micrometer droplets that are representative of real respiratory aerosols. The goal of this internship is to investigate how alginate influences the drying dynamics and bacterial survival in micrometric droplets, both sessile (on surfaces) and airborne. The experimental workflow will consist in using a combination of droplet-on-demand technology and high speed holographic imaging to measure the drying kinetics of model sputum droplets containing bacteria and alginate under controlled humidity and temperature, and quantifying bacterial survival after drying. Experience with programming in Python is a plus.  Experience working with bacteria is not necessary.  The candidate must be curious and autonomous, with a motivation to work on interdisciplinary problems at the interface between soft matter physics, microbiology, and fluid dynamics.  To apply, or for more details, email Malo or Ashley.

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.