ICFO is offering a postdoctoral position to a well-qualified, highly motivated and dynamic young scientist who wishes to enhance his/her scientific career in a friendly and stimulating environment.

The successful candidate will be joining the Neurophotonics and Mechanical Systems Biology group led by Prof. Dr. Michael Krieg in the framework of an international collaboration between ICFO, LMU Munich and UC Santa Barbara. The main task of the advertised position is to build multilayer optofluidic device for single cell sorting followed by DNA extraction and on chip amplification. The device shall combine optical sorting of cells expressing fluorescent biomarkers for on chip lifespan determination and DNA extraction. The ultimate goal is to decipher the role of replicative lifespan of yeast cells in mitochondrial health and DNA damage.

The Krieg lab has extensive experience in mechanobiology in C. elegans and zebrafish using advanced microscopy techniques, microfluidics and optical tweezers to interrogate fundamental mechanical processes in neurons and during development. We primarily use C. elegans due to its many advantages as a genetic model system and its wealth of mutant and cell biological tools. Also, we combine experiments with theory and simulations to obtain a systems view of cellular processes.

The project is highly interdisciplinary and collaborative and the successful applicant is expected to work in a team of engineers, phycisists and biologists to build an automated devices for tracking healthspan of individual cells across multiple generations. The candidate has the opportunity to travel internationally to the participating labs in Munich (Osman lab) and Santa Barbara (Shraiman lab).