PhD opportunity : Physics of the immune system (biophysics)

CNRS; France; Sur place; EUR 20 000 - 40 000; Plein temps

Résumé du poste

A prominent research organization in France is looking for motivated PhD candidates in the biological sciences to participate in innovative research on immune cells. The program aims to bring together students from diverse backgrounds like biology, physics, and engineering. Candidates will engage in groundbreaking research to understand how immune cells operate, utilizing interdisciplinary approaches in a supportive environment. The position does not guarantee EU funding and is designed for a full-time commitment.

Prestations

Opportunity for interdisciplinary research

Supportive research environment

Networking opportunities with global graduate students

Qualifications

• Talented and highly motivated individual.
• Interest in interdisciplinary approaches to biological processes.

Responsabilités

• Engage in interdisciplinary research to solve biological mysteries.
• Utilize physics to understand immune cell responses.

Formation

Master's degree in relevant field (biology, physics, engineering, applied mathematics, computer sciences)

Description du poste

Organisation/Company CNRS Research Field Biological sciences Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Country France Application Deadline 28 Jan 2026 - 23:00 (UTC) Type of Contract To be defined Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week To be defined Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

The central mystery of how immune cells recognise molecular scale cues with astonishing precision, sensitivity, speed and robustness and amplify these sparse signals into coordinated cell- and eventually organism- wide response, is still unsolved. Like all biological systems, immune cells are dynamically tuned through active non-equilibrium self-organisation, information coded genetically and received from the environment. A current general challenge in understanding the physics of biological systems is the coupling of active stochastic processes with geometry, motion and mechanics across scales. Such multiscale coupling may be the key mechanism via which immune recognition and amplification happens. Two PhD offers in Marseille plan to use physics to solve this important biological mystery.

• How reaction-diffusion on a quasi-2D landscape determines the first steps of immune cell response
• Membrane physics as the earliest amplifier of T Cell signal initiation: implications for health & disease

Context: Every year, CENTURI offers up to 10 new graduate students from all over the world the opportunity to engage in cutting-edge interdisciplinary research, in a dedicated PhD program. Our PhD fellowships are aimed at talented and highly motivated students interested in interdisciplinary approaches to decipher biological processes. CENTURI wishes to attract graduate students with a diversity of background: biology, physics, engineering, applied mathematics or computer sciences.