Postdoctoral position - Lung-on-Chip Technologies for mRNA Vaccine Evaluation

Institut Pasteur; France; On-site; EUR 42,000 - 54,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Secondment opportunities within immuno

Access to core facilities

Career development support

Job summary

Institut Pasteur invites applications for a postdoctoral researcher to lead the lung-on-chip project aimed at pandemic preparedness through mRNA-LNP vaccine evaluation at the human lung mucosal interface.

You will work in a bioengineering-driven team to develop and benchmark platform readouts against traditional models, publish results, and collaborate across European partners.

Qualifications

• PhD in bioengineering, cell biology, biophysics, immunology, or a closely related field.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience in mammalian cell culture, including primary cells and/or differentiated epithelial models.
• Excellent written and oral English; French not required but welcome.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of lung-on-chip platform for vaccine candidate testing.
• Conduct lung-on-chip infections in a BSL3 environment and characterize tissue responses.
• Assess LNP uptake, distribution, and transfection across epithelial/endothelial compartments.
• Profile innate immune responses at the lung barrier and compare with in vitro/in vivo data.
• Contribute to standardization and dissemination of lung-on-chip methods.

Skills

Mammalian cell culture

Fluorescence microscopy

Flow cytometry

English communication

Education

PhD in a relevant field (bioengineering / biology / biophysics / immunology)

Tools

Organ-on-chip platforms

Lipid nanoparticle formulation

BSL3 handling

Job description

Center for Resources and Technological Research

Organisation/Company Institut Pasteur Department Center for Resources and Technological Research Research Field Biological sciences > Biology Biological sciences > Biological engineering Researcher Profile Recognised Researcher (R2) Positions Postdoc Positions Application Deadline 20 Oct 2026 - 18:00 (Europe/Paris) Country France Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week 35 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Other EU programme Reference Number EU4H-2024-PJ-01-1 Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed a critical global vulnerability: the absence of validated, scalable, and human-relevant preclinical platforms capable of rapidly evaluating vaccine candidates against emerging respiratory pathogens. As the threat of future pandemics driven by novel influenza strains, coronaviruses, or yet-unknown respiratory viruses remains very real, there is an urgent need to develop flexible, pathogen-agnostic testing systems that can be rapidly deployed in a preparedness context. mRNA encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles (mRNA-LNPs) has emerged as the leading vaccine platform technology for pandemic response, combining unparalleled speed of antigen design with strong immunogenicity. Yet its preclinical evaluation at the human lung mucosal interface – the primary site of respiratory pathogen entry – remains poorly addressed by current models. Animal models are slow, costly, and often fail to predict human-specific responses. Classical in vitro systems lack the physiological complexity of the respiratory barrier. Our lung-on-chip platform ( Fonseca et al., 2025)1 is uniquely positioned to fill this gap. By faithfully recapitulating the structural, mechanical, and biological features of the human lung epithelium under dynamic flow conditions, it provides a rapid, human-centred, and adaptable testing system for vaccine candidates targeting respiratory pathogens. This project aims to establish lung-on-chip as a validated tool in the pandemic preparedness arsenal, using mRNA-LNP influenza vaccine candidates as a well-characterized model system for platform development and benchmarking. This position is funded through the European Vaccine Hub (EVH), a pan-European initiative specifically designed to strengthen pandemic preparedness through innovative vaccine development and evaluation tools.

The successful candidate will join our bioengineering-driven team and lead this effort, with the following core objectives:

• Explore the introduction of macrophages and other immune cells on the currently available Lung-on-Chip model.
• Perform lung-on-chip viral infections in a BSL3 environment.Characterize the reconstructed tissue responses.
• Assessing LNP uptake, distribution, and transfection efficiencyacross the epithelial and endothelial compartments of the chip
• Profiling innate immune responsesat the lung barrier triggered by mRNA-LNP formulations, including interferon signalling, pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion, and barrier integrity measurements, immune cell recruitment
• Benchmarking lung-on-chip readoutsagainst classical in vitro systems and cross-validating with in vivo data from EVH consortium partners
• Contributing to standardization and disseminationof lung-on-chip methodology within the broader vaccine development and pandemic preparedness community
• Contributing activelyto scientific publications, consortium meetings, and reporting deliverable

Requirements

Research Field Biological sciences > Biology Education Level PhD or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications

Required qualifications

• PhD inbioengineering, cell biology, biophysics, immunology, virology, or a closely related field
• Demonstrated hands‑on experience inmammalian cell culture, including primary cells and/or differentiated epithelial models (e.g., air-liquid interface cultures)
• Excellent written and oral communication skills inEnglish (French is not required but is welcome)

Highly desirable skills

• Experience withmicrofluidic devices or organ‑on‑chip platforms
• Experience withlipid nanoparticle formulation and/or characterization(dynamic light scattering, cryo‑EM, encapsulation efficiency assays)
• Familiarity withmRNA biology and innate immune sensing pathways.
• Broad interest in or knowledge of respiratory virus biology and pandemic pathogens (influenza, coronaviruses, RSV, or similar)
• Experience withfluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry, ELISA, or multiplex cytokine assays
• Interest in or prior exposure tomucosal immunology and respiratory immunity
• Awareness of thepandemic preparedness landscape and current challenges in vaccine development pipelines
• Highly motivated, intellectually curious, and capable of working autonomously
• Rigorous approach to experimental design, data management, and reproducibility
• Strong collaborative spirit and ability to thrive in aninternational, multidisciplinary environment
• Proactive in communication and scientific discussion

Languages ENGLISH Level Excellent

Additional Information

• Initial contract for 2 years. Can be renewed
• Astimulating and collaborative research environment at one of the world's leading biomedical research institutes
• Integration into theEuropean Vaccine Hub (EVH) consortium, a pan-European initiative specifically designed to strengthen pandemic preparedness through innovative vaccine development and evaluation tools, with regular interactions with leading partners in vaccinology, immunology, and formulation science across Europe
• Secondment opportunities within Institut Pasteur's world-class immunology units, providing direct exposure to adaptive and mucosal immune profiling, considerably broadening the scientific scope of the project and the candidate's own training trajectory
• Access tostate-of-the-art core facilities at Institut Pasteur, including advanced microscopy, genomics, flow cytometry, and BSL2/BSL3 containment infrastructure
• Active support forcareer development, including conference attendance, training courses, and transferable skills workshops