PhD student position

The Quasi-Living Materials Research Group is looking for an outstanding polymer chemist or organic chemist to join as a PhD student. The contract will be within the framework of the Project PhagoSynCell (ERC Consolidator Grant), in which our ambition is to create synthetic cells capable of performing a rudimentary form of artificial phagocytosis. We intend to use them as a new class of antimicrobials against antibiotic-resistant pathogens, one of the biggest challenges of contemporary medicine. We are looking for a future independent scientist who will take ownership of a research question.

The PhD project

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In the context of the ERC PhagoSynCell we are developing vesicles capable of capturing, engulfing and killing bacteria. These vesicles are built from supramolecular amphiphilic comb polymers (iCPs, 10.1002/advs.202200617 and 10.1002/advs.202411497) that self-assemble in water into vesicles, termed combisomes. This PhD project sits at the interface between polymer synthesis and soft matter: it will focus on the design and synthesis of novel iCPs and on understanding how their molecular architecture governs self-assembly, membrane properties and function. The objectives are to: (1) increase combisome stability in biological media, (2) maximize engulfment of pathogens in biological media, and (3) unravel the underlying molecular design rules.

Main tasks and responsibilities:

• Design and synthesize libraries of comb polymers (covalent and supramolecular) using organic synthesis and controlled radical polymerization, guided by molecular and self-assembly simulations. Polymerizations will be carried out with suitable reversible deactivation radical polymerization techniques.
• Combine microscopy, microfluidics, and physicochemical/biophysical tools to study self-assembly and membrane properties, and to dissect how molecular structure, topology and architecture encode vesicle properties.
• Identify which molecular features enhance vesicle stability in biological media.
• Engineer membrane properties to achieve engulfment of pathogens, working with our partners who are specialists in antimicrobial resistance.
• Establish structure–function relationships between molecular parameters and the ability to engulf.
• Take ownership of your project: formulate hypotheses, design experiments, interpret results critically, propose new directions, and communicate your findings in publications and at international conferences.

Requirements for candidates:

• An excellent, ambitious, hard-working and resilient scientist who loves interdisciplinary fundamental research and its applications in medicine.
• Master’s degree in polymer chemistry, or in organic chemistry with a strong polymer component, is essential. We will not consider applicants without hands-on experience in polymer and/or organic synthesis.
• Experience in macromolecular characterization by NMR, FT-IR, UV-Vis, SEC, DSC, TGA, TEM.
• Strong interest in soft matter and self-assembly: you want to understand not only how to make a polymer, but how its architecture determines what it does.
• Scientific ownership: proactive, critical and independent thinking, and the drive to define problems and push a project forward.
• High level of spoken and written English.
• Alignment with the team’s values and vision.

Advantageous:

• Experience in supramolecular self-assembly (e.g., vesicles, coacervates) and its characterization.
• Experience in optical microscopy, including Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy, as well as in cryo-TEM and AFM.
• Additional valuable experience or knowledge: soft matter, nanoscience, biophysics, scattering techniques, microbiology, bottom-up synthetic biology, or membrane systems.

Competencies and Skills:

We value not only technical expertise but also the demonstration of core competencies such as Communication, Teamwork and Collaboration, Commitment, Proactivity, Integrity, and Critical and Analytical Thinking.

We Offer:

• Number of available positions: 1
• Working conditions:
• Full time 3-year contract.
• Measures to reconcile work and family life (parental leave, flexible schedule working hours, 23 working days of paid holidays, 9 leave days for personal matters, among others).
• IBEC ensures equality of access to professional development opportunities irrespective of employment status, length at IBEC or other factors. The IBEC’s yearly training catalogue offers a wide range of training in technical and transferable skills including mobility grants and a Mentoring programme for predoctoral and postdoctoral researchers.
• Stimulating, interdisciplinary research and high-quality international scientific environ