Postdoctoral Researcher

Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC); Barcelona; On-site; EUR 42,000 - 56,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Parental leave

Flexible schedule

Paid holidays

Personal days

Visa assistance

Babysitting service

Job summary

The Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) in Barcelona seeks a Postdoctoral Researcher to bridge experimental and computational biology. You will design and execute robot-driven experiments, build automated workflows on Opentrons, and analyze spatial data to guide the next round of tests.

The role emphasizes multidisciplinary collaboration, data-driven decision making, and opportunities to pursue prestigious fellowships, with full support from IBEC’s grants office and a competitive

Qualifications

• PhD in life sciences, bioengineering, biotechnology, computational biology or related field.
• Hands-on wet-lab experience (mammalian cell culture, molecular biology or imaging-based assays).
• Python and/or R programming proficiency.
• Experience analyzing large imaging/omics datasets.
• Interest in automation and scalable, reproducible experiments.
• Ability to work independently and in multidisciplinary teams.
• Full professional proficiency in English (written and spoken).

Responsibilities

• Design, build and validate automated liquid-handling workflows on Opentrons Flex (Python API).
• Establish and run spatial proteomics on in vitro co-cultures, engineered tumor models and tissue sections.
• Implement lineage tracing readouts and debarcoding of clones.
• Scale perturbation experiments to high-throughput formats with robotics and automated microscopy.
• Develop computational pipelines for image processing, segmentation, debarcoding and spatial statistics.
• Close the experimental-computational loop to guide next experiments.

Skills

Python

Data analysis

Imaging analysis

Mammalian cell culture

English proficiency

Lineage tracing

Education

PhD in life sciences or related

Tools

Opentrons Flex

Python API

Docker

Snakemake

Job description

The Spatial Biotechnology Group is looking for a talented and highly motivated Postdoctoral Researcher to work at the interface between experimental and computational biology, building automated, closed-loop workflows. The position is part of our effort to understand how cells spatially organize to drive solid tumor development, and it brings together three fast-moving fronts: spatial proteomics, lineage tracing technologies, and laboratory automation. The successful candidate will design and execute robot-driven experiments and will analyze the resulting spatial data, closing the loop between experimental design, automated execution and data-driven decisions about what to run next. This is an opportunity for a hybrid scientist who wants to help define how a self-driving biology laboratory works.

Main tasks and responsibilities:

• Design, build and validate automated liquid-handling workflows on an Opentrons Flex platform (Python API).
• Establish and run spatial proteomics on in vitro co-cultures, engineered 3D tumor models and tissue sections.
• Implement clonal barcoding and lineage tracing readouts, including in situ detection and debarcoding of individual clones.
• Scale perturbation experiments to high-throughput formats, integrating robotics, automated microscopy and sample tracking into reproducible end-to-end pipelines.
• Develop and apply computational pipelines for image processing, cell segmentation, debarcoding and spatial statistics.
• Close the experimental-computational loop, using analysis results to guide the design of the next round of automated experiments (design of experiments, active learning).
• Ensure reproducibility and FAIR data practices: version-controlled code, documented protocols, structured metadata and open sharing of tools.
• Present results at internal meetings and international conferences, and contribute to manuscript preparation.
• Apply for competitive postdoctoral fellowships and, later, for independent career awards, with full support from the group and from IBEC’s grants office in preparing the proposals.
• Collaborate closely with experimental and computational colleagues within the group and with external partners, and co-supervise students working on related tasks.

Requirements for candidates:

• A PhD in life sciences, bioengineering, biotechnology, computational biology or a related discipline.
• Solid hands-on wet-lab experience (mammalian cell culture, molecular biology and/or imaging-based assays).
• Programming proficiency in Python and/or R.
• Demonstrated experience in the analysis of large imaging and/or omics datasets.
• Strong interest in laboratory automation and in making experiments scalable, traceable and reproducible.
• Ability to work independently, take initiative and solve complex problems across the experimental-computational interface.
• Willingness to work in a highly multidisciplinary environment.
• Competencies and skills needed: communication, teamwork, proactivity, commitment, integrity, time management, critical and analytical thinking, precision, and focus.
• Full professional proficiency in English (written and spoken).

Advantageous:

• Hands-on experience with liquid-handling robots (Opentrons Flex or OT-2, Hamilton, Tecan) and their Python APIs.
• Experience with spatial proteomics (e.g., iterative immunofluorescence, PhenoCycler/CODEX, imaging mass cytometry, MIBI) or with spatial transcriptomics.
• Experience with DNA barcoding, lineage tracing, CRISPR screens or other high-throughput perturbation approaches.
• Experience with quantitative image analysis and deep learning tools for segmentation and classification (e.g., Cellpose, napari, scikit-image, PyTorch).
• Experience with 3D culture systems, organoids or microfluidic devices.
• Familiarity with workflow managers (Nextflow, Snakemake), containers (Docker, Singularity) and high-performance computing environments.
• Interest in AI-assisted experimental design, self-driving laboratories or foundation models for biological data.
• A background in cancer biology or immunology.

We Offer:

• Number of available positions: 1
• Working conditions:
• Full time (37.5 hrs/week), open-ended contract for scientific and technical activities, linked to the project and budget duration.
• Salary according to qualifications and experience following IBEC pay scales.
• 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.
• Active support in the application for a personal fellowship (MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships, EMBO, HFSP, “la Caixa” Junior Leader, Beatriu de Pinós, Juan de la Cierva, among others), including dedicated mentoring, internal review of drafts and support from IBEC’s Grants Office.
• 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: PR-XR.

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

Principles of the selection process:

IBEC is committed to the principles of the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers of the European Commission and the Open, Transparent and Merit based Recruitment principles (OTM-R) https://ibecbarcelona.eu/careers-at-ibec/jobs/

IBEC´s Commitment on equal opportunity:

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.

IBEC actively looks for female candidates for Senior positions ensuring that at least 40% of shortlisted applicants invited to interview have to be women with comparable level of CVs as the male candidates. At the end of the evaluation process, in case of equal merit, priority will be given to female candidates.

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.

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 is managing 3.800 square meters facilities, with an annual budget of 22 Mio€; 4.150 square meters of facilities; 21 research groups and a team of researchers and support services of 400 people from 35 different countries. www.ibecbarcelona.eu