Postdoc: Image-Driven Drug Screening for Bacteria

École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL; Lausanne; On-site; CHF 110,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary (EPFL postdoc scale

Job summary

EPFL seeks a postdoctoral scientist in Lausanne to build a new image-based drug screening platform targeting gram-negative pathogens. You will combine live imaging with tissue-engineered infection models to identify compounds active against priority pathogens.

The role requires a PhD in microbiology/biophysics/bioengineering and hands-on quantitative microscopy, plus experience with Python and AI-enabled image analysis. Collaboration across microbiology and drug discovery is essential.

Qualifications

• PhD in microbiology, biophysics, bioengineering, or a related field with at least one first-author publication.
• Hands-on experience with quantitative microscopy (live-cell imaging, high-content screening, or single-cell imaging).
• Experience with image analysis pipelines; scripting in Python; ML-based analysis is a plus but not required.

Responsibilities

• Design and build a microscopy-based phenotypic screening pipeline (live imaging, high-content, single-cell) to assay compound activity.
• Develop imaging assays capable of distinguishing mechanism of action (growth inhibition, biofilm disruption, membrane integrity).
• Develop or adapt image analysis and quantification pipelines with AI support for screen-scale data.
• Follow up on screening hits to identify molecular targets or mechanisms with team support.
• Collaborate with discovery and design efforts to feed targets and hits back into upstream design.
• Apply pipeline to screens in standard culture and organoid/tissue-engineered infection models.
• Co-supervise PhD students and contribute to method development, data management, and grant reporting.

Skills

Quantitative microscopy

Python scripting

ML-based image analysis

Education

PhD in microbiology/biophysics/bioengineering (completed or near completion)

Job description

EPFL seeks a postdoctoral scientist in Lausanne to build a new image-based drug screening platform targeting gram-negative pathogens. You will combine live imaging with tissue-engineered infection models to identify compounds active against priority pathogens.

The role requires a PhD in microbiology/biophysics/bioengineering and hands-on quantitative microscopy, plus experience with Python and AI-enabled image analysis. Collaboration across microbiology and drug discovery is essential.