2025 Tenure-Track Group Leader Position in Computational Biology

The Department of Medicine and Life Sciences (MELIS) of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) aims to fill a Junior Group Leader position in the field of Computational Biology. We are looking for candidates in the early stage of their career with a strong background in computational biology, statistics and/or machine learning/AI techniques, and an excellent track record of computational research in the life sciences, focused on developing and/or applying methodologies for the analysis of multimodal biological data, such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, or imaging, at the single-cell and/or spatially resolved levels.

The Department of Medicine and Life Sciences at UPF

MELIS ) is an internationally renowned biomedical research center in Barcelona, Spain. It is located at the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB, ) with other research institutes, including the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG), the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (HMRI), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL Barcelona), and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal). With a staff of more than 300 scientists, MELIS combines the creation and transfer of knowledge through the seamless integration of research and teaching, well in line with the vision and values of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra ), which holds top-level positions in national and international rankings for teaching quality and scientific productivity (first Spanish university in the Times Higher Education and U-Multirank rankings, The trajectory of MELIS in research excellence and innovation in education has been twice recognized with the "María de Maeztu" Unit of Excellence award by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

Research at MELIS

Understanding complex biological systems, particularly in human biology and disease, requires interdisciplinary approaches integrating experimental, computational, and engineering approaches. The scientific focus of MELIS is to strengthen and expand our research horizons under the broad overall scope of molecular biomedicine, fostering interdisciplinary collaborations among our research teams. Our department is organized in Research Programs that address this challenge from an integrative perspective through all biological scales ). Our research groups are supported by cutting-edge core facilities in scientific computing, flow cytometry, proteomics, genomics, and advanced light microscopy ).

MELIS promotes diversity in an inclusive environment that welcomes applicants regardless of age, disability, gender, nationality, race, religion, or sexual orientation. Women are especially encouraged to apply.

Further information regarding our department and the group leader recruitment & selection process can be found at

The Offer

● Tenure-track position to be consolidated to a permanent faculty position upon external peer review.

● Startup package that includes a part-time technician, a PhD student, computing equipment costs, and access to our computing facility.

● Office space for up to 4 people.

● Start date: June 2025.

Successful candidates will be highly accomplished young scientists with a PhD in Biology, Bioinformatics, Physics, Statistics, Computer Science or a similar field, and a strong capacity to lead high-impact research projects. The future group leader should be driven by a desire to contribute to questions of biological and/or medical relevance, independently and in collaboration with other researchers from the department. The selected candidate is also expected to attract national and international research funds, supervise doctoral theses, and should be able to teach subjects such as computational biology, systems biology, statistics and/or machine learning/AI techniques, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.