Research Topics
Find out more about the cutting-edge research topics investigated across our different research groups to help you navigate the list below.
Unique in the world and waiting for you!
Applicants are asked to select specific groups in their online application form as indication of interest. Please note that the list below is preliminary and may change prior to the interviews. All eligible applications will be available to all recruiting Group Leaders to review and select candidates for interviews.
Read more about the application process here.
Find out more about the cutting-edge research topics investigated across our different research groups to help you navigate the list below.
Organoid models of neuroendocrine development and cancer
The Dayton group leverages novel organoid models of neuroendocrine (NE) cells and tumours to recapitulate and dissect mechanisms of human disease including cancer initiation, progression, and drug response.
Engineering vascularised tissue-specific disease models
The Haase group develops novel 3D vascularised in vitro tissues for disease modelling, drug development and regenerative medicine.
Self-organisation in multicellular systems
The Trivedi group aims to understand the self-organisation of cells, fundamental to metazoan development, through comparative study of embryos and organoids that generate a global coordinate system de novo.
Intraspecies variation in medaka fish and humans
The Birney research group focuses on inter-individual variation in humans and Japanese rice paddy fish (Medaka fish), as well as novel algorithmic methods for genomics.
Systems biomedicine
Our goal is to acquire a functional understanding of the deregulation of cellular networks in disease and to apply this knowledge to develop novel therapeutics. We integrate big (‘Omics’) data using statistical and machine learning, with a specific interest in systematically leveraging prior knowledge network to improve the power and interpretability of such methods.
The candidate should have a strong interest in omics data analysis, especially machine learning and/or network methods. Particular areas of interest are the analysis of single-cell and spatially resolved data from patients cohorts, and the analysis of host-microbiome interations. They should expect to develop and apply open-source methods to various biological context, form collaborations with experimental partners to large scale public repositories of omics data. They should have a strong interest in understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms of diseases, driven to leverage these insights into actionable results and share those methods with the rest of the scientific community.
Additionally, 2 new incoming rGTLs
Biological X-ray imaging
Our research programme focuses on new approaches in X-ray imaging of biological samples and encompasses experimental, technical and computational developments.
Integrative structural biology and Molecular biophysics
The Garcia Alai team develops methods for sample optimisation and characterisation for SAXS, MX and EM experiments and applies systematic pipelines of biophysical techniques to solve dynamic structural puzzles, with particular focus on protein-lipid interactions and protein complexes from extremophiles.
Mechanobiology at the cell surface
The Diz-Muñoz lab studies how mechanics at the cell periphery govern function, with a focus on morphogenesis, migration, and fate in animal cells.
The Diz-Muñoz lab offers an exciting interdisciplinary project on the biophysics of cell division. The work will involve protein engineering approaches combined with live cell imaging and cutting-edge biophysical approaches to measuring cell mechanics. In addition to scientific curiosity and a strong interest in understanding fundamental biophysical processes, the ideal candidate would demonstrate a collaborative spirit and excellent communication skills.
Theory of cellular and multicellular organisation
The Erzberger group studies the theoretical principles of self-organisation in complex systems using cellular and multicellular systems as paradigms.
Machine learning for bioimage analysis
The Kreshuk group develops machine learning-based methods and tools for automatic segmentation, classification and analysis of biological images.
Advanced optical techniques for deep tissue microscopy
The Prevedel group develops new optical techniques for investigating dynamic cellular processes deep inside tissue in vivo.
Evolution of the nervous system in bilateria
By studying and comparing simple marine animals and their constituent cells, the Arendt group looks to understand the origin and evolution of the nervous system and of the entire animal body.
Timing in embryonic development
The Aulehla group studies the role of timing during development, in particular how signalling dynamics and oscillations control spatiotemporal pattern formation as an embryo develops.
Theory of biological homeostasis and plasticity
The Graf group uses tools from theoretical biophysics to investigate how living systems can robustly function despite being highly complex, intrinsically noisy, and subject to changing environmental conditions.
Critical points and transitions in tissue morphogenesis
The Petridou group aims to understand how complexity arises during early embryo development by focusing on the emergence and function of collective tissue properties. To do so, we combine diverse disciplines including comparative embryology, biophysics, statistical mechanics, quantitative and synthetic biology.
Control principles of animal body size
Through comparative studies of planarian flatworms, the Vu Group aims to understand the control principles that define animal body size.
Genome regulation and chromatin topology during embryonic development
The Furlong group dissects fundamental principles of genome regulation and how that drives cell fate decisions during development, focusing on organisational and functional properties of the genome.
Quantitative Biology and Statistics
The Huber group develops statistical methods for modern biotechnologies, applies them to biological discovery, and translates them into reusable tools.
From genomic variation to molecular mechanism
The Korbel group combines computational and experimental approaches, including in single cells, to unravel determinants and consequences of germline and somatic genetic variation with a special focus on disease mechanisms.
Decoding gene regulation using single-molecule genomics
The Krebs group combines single-cell and single-molecule genomics with large-scale genome engineering to understand fundamental mechanisms for controlling gene expression.
Spatial biology from molecules to tissues: high-dimensional investigation of cellular organisation
The Saka group develops new tools and methods to investigate the spatial and molecular organisation of cells across scales. The group harnesses new labelling approaches, advanced imaging and DNA nanotechnology for spatial omics applications to decipher visual phenotypes and shed new light to cellular function and dysfunction in various pathologies from cancer to neurodegeneration.
Current projects would be suitable for students interested in wet lab-dry lab combinations, and advanced analysis of imaging data or omics data
Multi-omics-based modelling of microbial ecosystems
The Zimmermann-Kogadeeva group combines computational modelling and multi-omics data integration to investigate how microbes adapt to their surroundings, and how metabolic adaptations of individual bacteria shape the functional outcome of microbial communities and their interactions with the environment.
Computational analysis of microbiome data from the human gut and the environment
We integrate metagenomic data with contextual and other omics data to develop a global understanding of the interactions between bacteria and their environment and to gain insight on the development and progression of diseases. We have two open PhD positions, one focused on the spread of antimicrobial resistance through horizontal gene transfer and the other one with a broader scope, allowing the candidate to define their research direction within the diverse topics explored by the group.
Organisational principles and 3D architecture of archaeal chromatin
The Dodonova group aims to understand the mechanisms and evolutionary principles of genome packaging and chromatin 3D organisation by studying archaea using a combination of biochemistry, biophysics, and high-resolution structural biology in near-native contexts.
Environmental response at the single-cell level
The Dorrity group investigates how variability propagates from the level of molecules to developing cells and tissues, and ultimately to organismal phenotype.
Assembly mechanisms and function of protein-RNA complexes at the single-molecule level
The Duss group uses single-molecule methods in combination with integrative structural biological and biochemical approaches to understand how protein-RNA complexes are assembled and how macromolecular machines cooperate with each other, providing new opportunities to fight diseases and to create new functional molecular assemblies.
Exploring the chromatin landscape by cryo-electron microscopy
The Eustermann group explores the molecular landscape of chromatin to understand at an atomic level the principles underlying expression and maintenance of genomic information in eukaryotes.
High-throughput cryo-EM
The Mattei team develops methods and software supporting high-throughput and fully automated pipelines to tackle the current challenges in cryo-EM sample preparation and screening.
Systems microbiology
The Typas group develops high-throughput approaches to study bacterial cellular networks in the context of their interactions with each other and their environment.
Metabolic microbiome–host interactions
The Zimmermann group combines high-throughput mass spectrometry, bacterial genetics and computational models to investigate how members of microbial communities alter their chemical environment and how this shapes metabolic interactions within the microbiome and between the microbiome and its host.
Mechanisms of embryonic gene regulation
The Boskovic group investigates epigenetic mechanisms regulating early embryonic gene expression patterns, and how their modulation influences developmental trajectories and offspring phenotypes.
Neural control of instinctive behaviour
The Gross group uses pharmacological, histochemical, electrophysiological, and behavioural genetic approaches to study the neural circuits underlying instinctive behaviour in mice.
Epigenetic mechanisms and intergenerational inheritance
The Hackett group investigates the role of epigenetic mechanisms in genome regulation and developmental programming, with a focus on intergenerational epigenetic inheritance. We integrate multi-omics, high-throughput (epi)genetic editing, and environmental perturbations to understand gene regulatory responses across scales, from single cells to organism phenotypes.
Visual circuits in the thalamus
The Rompani group studies the function of visual circuits in the thalamus, using a combination of functional imaging, genetics, virology, and behavioral assays in mice.
Robert Prevedel, Rohini Kuner and Jan Siemens
Our research addresses key biological challenges in chronic pain and homeostasis, such as understanding metabolic mechanisms of chronic pain and homeostasis, and elucidating cellular circuits in the brain that are involved in these adaptive and maladaptive processes.
Eileen Furlong and Johannes Backs
Our team focuses on both fundamental and translational aspects of chromatin biology in the context of human heart development and disease including cardiomyopathies and acquired forms of acute/chronic heart failure.