Postdoctoral Fellowships
EMBL Heidelberg

EMBL is Europe’s life sciences laboratory – an intergovernmental organisation with more than 110 independent research groups and service teams covering the spectrum of molecular biology. It operates across six sites in Heidelberg (headquarters), Barcelona, Cambridge, Grenoble, Hamburg and Rome. Our mission is to perform basic research in molecular biology; train scientists, students and visitors at all levels; offer vital services to scientists in the public and private sectors within the member states; develop new instruments and methods; and engage actively in technology transfer.
The van Gestel group at EMBL Heidelberg is looking for an ambitious postdoc with a background in microfluidics, imaging and image analysis. Our group works on predator-prey interactions between soil-dwelling protists and bacteria, focusing on the interaction between Dictyostelium discoideum and Bacillus subtilis as our model system. We use a combination of high-throughput screens, CRISPR editing, microfluidics and quantitative single-cell microscopy to study the molecular underpinnings, dynamics and impact of predator-prey interactions in the soil.

We are searching for a postdoctoral candidate who is interested in pushing the development of state-of-the-art microfluidics and imaging methods in our group.

Contract duration: 1 years
Grading: Stipend year 1
Reference number: HD02734

• A graduate degree
• A team player with excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Strong organizational and time management skills.
• Extensive experience with microfluidics, widefield and confocal microscopy.
• Extensive experience with image analysis (e.g. Python, R, Matlab)
• Experience in molecular biology (e.g. cloning, genotyping).
• Experience in microbiology and cell culturing
• The ability to communicate (spoken and written) fluently in English.

• Experience with culturing single-cell eukaryotes (e.g. Dictyostelium discoideum)
• Experience with culturing bacteria (e.g. Bacillus subtilis)

This position provides a unique opportunity to play a central role in a developing team of international and interdisciplinary researchers.
We are located in Heidelberg, which is a vibrant international city on the Neckar River in southwestern Germany with an excellent research community.
EMBL is curiosity-driven, community-oriented and international. As an inclusive, equal opportunity employer, we believe that diversity enables us to collaborate more effectively and be innovative in our approaches. We are, therefore, committed to creating an inclusive and flexible culture - one where everyone can realise their full potential and make a positive contribution to our organisation.
We encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing team – we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and personal experiences reflect the diversity of the populations that our science serves. We actively encourage applications from all genders and cultures, ethnic groups and all demographics to help us avoid perpetuating biases and oversights at this transformational point in our people strategy.
EMBL offers attractive conditions and benefits appropriate to an international research organisation with a very collegial and family-friendly working environment. Competitive salary and social security benefits, financial support for relocation, a relaxed culture, professional development, an on-site nursery, canteen and other staff facilities make EMBL a great place to work.
** Don’t meet every single requirement? We are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply nevertheless.

We are Europe’s research laboratory for the life sciences – an intergovernmental organisation performing scientific research in disciplines including molecular biology, physics, chemistry and computer science. We are an international, innovative and interdisciplinary laboratory with more than 1900 employees from many nations, operating across six sites, in Heidelberg (HQ), Barcelona, Hinxton near Cambridge, Hamburg, Grenoble and Rome.
Our mission is to offer vital services in training scientists, students and visitors at all levels; to develop new instruments and methods in the life sciences and actively engage in technology transfer activities, and to integrate European life science research. The working language of the institute is English.
Please note that appointments on fixed term contracts can be renewed up to 9 years in total, depending on circumstances at the time of the review.
EMBL is a signatory of DORA. Find out how we implement best practices in research assessment in our recruitment processes here.