PhD scholarship in molecular biology to engineer biocomputing devices
We are looking for a highly motivated student to join our dynamic, interdisciplinary research team at the University of Paris-Saclay.
Your role
Your project lies at the interface of molecular biology and artificial intelligence with the aim of probing microorganism cognitive capacities. You will essentially be in charge of engineering reporter systems in E. coli, enabling quantifying phenotype changes for different media compositions related to environmental or clinical samples. Additional information can be found on the project webpage. The project builds on the previous discovery that metabolic networks can be used to engineer a perceptron, the basic unit of artificial neural networks.
What qualifies you for this job
A master’s degree (already completed or expected shortly) in molecular biology, synthetic biology, or metabolic engineering. As you will be working on building reporters (production of colorimetric compounds or luminescent/florescent biosensors) in E. coli, the desired prior knowledge are:
- Gene assembly
- Bacterial strain transformation
- Fluorescence or colorimetric assay
Practices with biosensor engineering and dose-response curve will be a plus but not mandatory. Willingness to use machine learning methods developed by other partners of the project will be essential.
The environment of this job
You will be taking part in a multi-partners French National Research (ANR) funded project (named AMN) with expertise in synthetic biology, biophysics, artificial intelligence, and clinical diagnostics. You will have the opportunity to work in the Paris and Grenoble (Alpes) regions.
Benefits
- Free of charge training and career development
- Health care benefits
- Subsidized cafeteria meals
- Great working environment
The position is available from Sept. 1, 2022. To apply, please submit the following documents by May 1:
- Motivation letter
- CV including a publications list
- Master course class grades and relevant certificates/diplomas
- Contact details for two referees