Postdoctoral Researcher – Translational AI in Neuropathology (m/f/d)

Heidelberg University Hospital; Heidelberg; Hybrid; EUR 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

Heidelberg University Hospital's Department of Neuropathology is seeking an ambitious postdoctoral researcher to develop foundation and multimodal AI models that integrate histomorphology, DNA methylation, sequencing, spatial and clinical data, with the goal of prospective validation and certified diagnostic use.

You will collaborate with physicians, biologists and computer scientists, supervise doctoral and master's students, and pursue independent third-party funding.

Qualifications

• PhD or MD/PhD in computer science, computational biology, biomedical engineering, physics, mathematics, medicine or a related discipline.
• Track record in machine learning applied to biomedical imaging and/or omics data.
• Ambition to develop an independent research profile and to grow into the leadership of a research group; first experience in supervising students or in grant writing is a plus.
• Excellent written and spoken English communication skills; German is welcome but not a prerequisite.
• Ability to work independently and within a collaborative, interdisciplinary team, and awareness of the role’s relevance for patient care.

Responsibilities

• Develop and adapt foundation and multimodal models integrating histomorphology, DNA methylation, sequencing, spatial and clinical data
• Establish reproducible training and inference pipelines on our in-house and the central state academic GPU infrastructure
• Co-supervise doctoral, MD and master’s students and contribute to grant applications (DFG, ERC, EU, BMBF, foundations) with the aim of acquiring your own third-party funding
• Publish and present at conferences, present the work at national and international meetings and represent the department in research networks such as EUcanA

Skills

Machine learning in biomedical imaging

Omics data analysis

Interdisciplinary collaboration

English communication

Education

PhD or MD/PhD

Job description

The Department of Neuropathology is one of the world’s leading reference centres for CNS tumour diagnostics. We co-developed the DNA methylation-based classifier for CNS tumours and continue to expand it (Capper et al., 2018; Sill et al., 2025), and we combine fully digitised histopathology, genome-wide methylation profiling, panel and long-read sequencing and spatial multi-omics with deeply annotated outcome data across tens of thousands of cases (Ritter et al., Nat Cancer 2026; Maas et al., Nat Genetics 2026). Our recent work includes Hetairos, a histology-based AI model that predicts CNS tumour methylation subtypes directly from H&E slides (Jin et al., Nat Cancer 2026), and we are the coordinating site of the EUcanAI (European Unified Cancer diagnostics and treatment AI agent) consortium, an EIC Pathfinder Challenge project on generative AI agents for cancer diagnosis and treatment.
We are now expanding our activities in translational artificial intelligence and are looking for an ambitious postdoctoral researcher who wants to grow into the leadership of an independent research group. You will develop foundation and multimodal models that integrate histomorphology, DNA methylation, sequencing, spatial and clinical data, to address unmet clinical needs (risk stratification, therapy response, identification and characterization of rare entities, AI-supported process optimzation) and take models from retrospective proof of concept through prospective validation towards certified diagnostic use.
As a key member of our interdisciplinary team of physicians, biologists and computer scientists, you will work directly alongside the neuropathologists who sign out the diagnoses and with the data your models learn from. We are a key part of the Heidelberg (neuro)-oncology ecosystem and enjoy close collaboration with diverse clinical and technical departments on campus as well as active partnerships with renowned international institutions.
We will actively support you in building your own scientific profile, in acquiring independent third-party funding and in your habilitation – with the clear perspective of establishing your own research group within the department.
Selected recent work from the department

• Jin D, et al. Hetairos is a histology-based artificial intelligence model for predicting central nervous system tumor methylation subtypes. Nat Cancer. 2026;7:884–898. doi:10.1038/s43018-026-01186-3
• Sill M, et al. Advancing CNS tumor diagnostics with expanded DNA methylation-based classification. Cancer Cell. 2025;44:340–354. doi:10.1016/j.ccell.2025.11.002
• Maas SLN, et al. A microenvironment-determined risk continuum refines subtyping in meningioma and reveals determinants of machine learning-based tumor classification. Nat Genet. 2026;58:341–354. doi:10.1038/s41588-025-02475-w
• Capper D, et al. DNA methylation-based classification of central nervous system tumours. Nature. 2018;555:469–474. doi:10.1038/nature26000

Your tasks

As a key member of our interdisciplinary team, you will:

• Develop and adapt foundation and multimodal models integrating histomorphology, DNA methylation, sequencing, spatial and clinical data
• Establish reproducible training and inference pipelines on our in-house and the central state academic GPU infrastructure
• Co-supervise doctoral, MD and master’s students and contribute to grant applications (DFG, ERC, EU, BMBF, foundations) with the aim of acquiring your own third-party funding
• Publish and present at conferences, present the work at national and international meetings and represent the department in research networks such as EUcanA

Your profile

• PhD or MD/PhD in computer science, computational biology, biomedical engineering, physics, mathematics, medicine or a related discipline
• Track record in machine learning applied to biomedical imaging and/or omics data, documented by publications in leading journals or conferences
• Ambition to develop an independent research profile and to grow into the leadership of a research group; first experience in supervising students or in grant writing is a plus
• Excellent written and spoken English communication skills; German is welcome but not a prerequisite
• Ability to work independently and within a collaborative, interdisciplinary team, and awareness of the role’s relevance for patient care

About us

For questions regarding this position, please contact Prof. Dr. Dr. med. Felix Sahm via email.

Your career track towards independent group leadership

We look forward to receiving your application online.