PhD in Synthetic Biology at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain

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The Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Spain is offering a completely financed or fully funded PhD grant for worldwide candidates who hold graduate degrees in Natural Sciences or Biology.

Project Description

The emerging ‘Synthetic Cell Programming’ lab, led by Dr. Santos-Moreno (santosmorenolab.org), is seeking for a highly-motivated PhD candidate for engineering synthetic gene circuits to program time in E. coli cells. This position is funded by an ERC Starting Grant (project: TICK-TOCK Do and Die).

Past achievements of Dr. Santos-Moreno include tool development for synthetic biology, including CRISPRi-based circuits (Santos-Moreno et al. 2020, Nat Commun) and modular cloning approaches (Santos-Moreno & Schaerli 2019, ACS Synth Biol); the use of these tools to address longstanding biological questions, related to evolution (Santos-Moreno et al. 2023, Nat Commun) or pathogenesis (Rueff et al. 2023, Nat Commun); and the engineering of diverse members of the human microbiotic – including gut (E. coli), lung (S. pneumoniae) and skin (C. acnes) microbes – for basic or applied research, such as the delivery of molecules with anti-acne potential by an engineered skin bacterium (Knödlseder et al. 2024, Nat Biotechnol).

Your role

The successful candidate will work on designing and building synthetic gene circuits to program time in cells, and characterizing these circuits, fine-tuning them, and connecting them to other circuits/actuator modules. The candidate is also expected to write articles, present results at seminars/conferences, contribute to the training of undergraduate students, collaborate with other group members and labs, and apply for PhD fellowships. If interested, the candidate can also participate in teaching and outreach activities.

What we offer

A full-time PhD contract for 4 years
Competitive salary
36 days/year of paid holidays: 22 days of personal choice + 14 bank holidays
Full access to the Spanish national social security, including free-of-charge access to the health system and unemployment and retirement contributions
Measures to reconcile work & family life, including parental leave and flexible working hours
Mentorship and training, including access to free courses and resources, to accelerate your professional development

Requirements

Research Field: Biological sciences education LevelBachelor Degree or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications:

A B.Sc. or M.Sc. in Biology, Biotechnology, Bioengineering, or a related discipline.
Excellent track record of B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees is highly valued (average > 8/10).

Experience: in synthetic biology, molecular biology, microbiology, bio-engineering, designing gene circuits, or modeling them. Desirable experience in bacterial cultivation, microfluorometric, dynamic systems, synthetic memory, or bio-containment.

Competencies & skills:

• High motivation and pro-activity.

• Ability to work independently, or with colleagues.
• Strong organizational skills.
• Scientific Research Interest.
• A good command (spoken & written) of English language.

How to Apply

Please send your application to javier.santos@upf.edu with ‘PhD timers’ as the subject line. Provide your ID/Passport number in the body of the email, and include all of the following in a single PDF document named ‘PhD-timers_yourName_yourSurname.pdf’: