PhD student position

Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC); Barcelona; On-site; EUR 23,000 - 32,000; Full time

Job summary

The Quasi-Living Materials Research Group at IBEC in Barcelona seeks a polymer chemist or organic chemist to join as a PhD student on the ERC PhagoSynCell project. You will develop synthetic cells and comb polymers for antimicrobial applications, combining polymer chemistry with soft matter science.

The PhD project focuses on design of comb polymers (iCPs) that self-assemble into vesicles (combisomes). You will work to increase stability, enhance pathogen engulfment, and derive design rules

Qualifications

• Master's degree in polymer chemistry or organic chemistry with polymer component.
• Hands-on experience in polymer and/or organic synthesis required.
• Experience with macromolecular characterization techniques (NMR, FT-IR, UV-Vis, SEC, DSC, TGA, TEM).
• Strong interest in soft matter and self-assembly; ability to relate architecture to function.
• Excellent spoken and written English; independent, proactive thinker.

Responsibilities

• Design and synthesize libraries of comb polymers (covalent and supramolecular) using organic synthesis and controlled radical polymerization.
• Combine microscopy, microfluidics, and physicochemical tools to study self-assembly and membrane properties.
• Identify molecular features that enhance vesicle stability in biological media.
• Engineer membrane properties to enable engulfment of pathogens in collaboration with antimicrobial resistance experts.
• Establish structure–function relationships and communicate results in publications and conferences.

Skills

polymer chemistry

organic chemistry

self-assembly

independent thinking

Education

Master's degree in polymer chemistry

Master's degree in organic chemistry with polymer component

Tools

NMR

FT-IR

UV-Vis

SEC

DSC

TGA

TEM

Job description

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

\"Design of super predatory vesicles\"<\\/p>

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 environment.
• Induction programme to facilitate incorporation at IBEC and additional support is provided for foreigners to obtain Visa-working permit and to install in Barcelona.

Reference: PhD-Syn-CR-E.

If you have any further question regarding your application, please contact us at [e-mail]

IBEC´s Commitment on equal opportunity, diversity, and Inclusion:

Our strength and excellence as an international transdisciplinary Research Institute are based on diversity. Being an equal opportunity employer, we are committed to diversity and inclusion, so that we support employees irrespective of their gender, nationality, religion, disabilities, age, sexual identity or cultural and socioeconomic background.

Visit our devoted webpage on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

For candidates with children that come from outside Barcelona, we offer babysitting services during the interview, so you don’t have to worry about anything else than doing a good interview. Contact us if you are interested in this service.

In categories where women are underrepresented, such as Group Leader positions, and with the aim of ensuring gender balance in recruitment processes, women candidates must represent at least 50% of those interviewed for Junior-level positions and 40% for Senior-level positions, provided they have CVs comparable to those of male candidates. At the end of the evaluation process, in cases of equal merit, preference will be given to women candidates.

IBEC, as a signatory of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), will consider, especially for early-stage investigators, much more the scientific content of research outputs, than publication metrics or the identity of the journal in which it were published.

Protection of personal data:

IBEC guarantees that candidates' personal data are processed in accordance with the requirements of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Law 3/2018 on Data Protection.

Personal data will be processed solely for the purposes of the selection process.

Who we are?

The Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, IBEC is an interdisciplinary research center focused on Bioengineering and Nanomedicine based in Barcelona. IBEC is one of the top research institutions named as a Severo Ochoa Research Centre by the Ministry of Science, Universities and Innovation, which recognizes excellence at the highest international level in terms of research, training, human resources, outreach and technology transfer.

IBEC's mission is to develop international high-quality interdisciplinary research that, while creating knowledge, contributes to making a better quality of life, improving health and creating wealth. A close link with key universities, reference hospitals and corporations, are assets that facilitate achieving the mission.

IBEC was established in 2005 by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Autonomous Government of Catalonia), the University of Barcelona (UB) and the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC).

IBEC is located within the Barcelona Science Park and UPC Besós Campus, with an annual budget of 21 Mio€; 4.400 square meters of facilities; 25 research groups and a team of researchers and support services of 450 people from 40 different countries. www.ibecbarcelona.eu