École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
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Postdoctoral Position in Image-Based Drug Screening Against Bacterial Pathogens École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland
Degree Level
Postdoc
Field of study
Computer Science
Funding
Postdoctoral employment at EPFL with competitive salary according to the EPFL postdoc salary scale. The position is for 1 year, renewable, and the lab supports independent fellowship applications such as EMBO, HFSP, and MSCA where relevant.
Country
Switzerland
University
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

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Postdoctoral Position in Image-Based Drug Screening Against Bacterial Pathogens at EPFL
EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) is recruiting a postdoctoral researcher to help establish a new image-based drug screening platform in the laboratory of Prof. Alex Persat at the EPFL School of Life Sciences. The project focuses on gram-negative bacterial pathogens, including Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
The successful candidate will design and build a microscopy-based phenotypic screening pipeline using live imaging, high-content screening, and single-cell/single-bacterium resolution approaches. The work combines microbiology, biophysics, bioengineering, drug discovery, and image analysis, with AI-supported quantification pipelines for screen-scale data. The platform will be used to identify compounds active against priority pathogens and to distinguish mechanisms of action such as growth inhibition, biofilm/attachment disruption, and membrane integrity effects.
The role also includes follow-up studies on screening hits to determine molecular targets or mechanisms of action using genetic, chemical-biology, or biophysical approaches. The postdoc will collaborate with the lab’s discovery and design efforts, including natural products and AI-enabled molecular design, and will apply the pipeline in both standard culture and tissue-engineered infection models (airway and gut organoids) to prioritize physiologically relevant hits.
Eligibility highlights include a PhD in microbiology, biophysics, bioengineering, or a related field, completed or near completion, plus at least one first-author publication. Applicants should have hands-on experience with quantitative microscopy, live-cell imaging, high-content screening, or single-cell imaging, and be comfortable with Python-based image analysis. Experience with machine learning for image analysis is a plus.
Funding and conditions: competitive salary according to the EPFL postdoc salary scale; contract duration is 1 year, renewable. The lab also supports independent fellowship applications such as EMBO, HFSP, and MSCA where relevant.
How to apply: submit a cover letter (up to 2 pages), CV with publication list, and contact details for 3 referees through the EPFL careers portal only. Informal inquiries can be sent to [email protected].
Funding details
Postdoctoral employment at EPFL with competitive salary according to the EPFL postdoc salary scale. The position is for 1 year, renewable, and the lab supports independent fellowship applications such as EMBO, HFSP, and MSCA where relevant.
What's required
PhD in microbiology, biophysics, bioengineering, or a related field, completed or near completion, with at least one first-author publication. Hands-on experience with quantitative microscopy such as live-cell imaging, high-content screening, or single-cell/single-bacterium imaging is required. Applicants should be comfortable with image analysis pipelines and scripting in Python; experience with ML-based image analysis is a plus. Interest in the interface of imaging, microbiology, and drug discovery is expected.
How to apply
Prepare a cover letter (up to 2 pages), CV with publication list, and contact details for 3 referees. Submit the application only through the EPFL careers portal. For informal inquiries, email [email protected].
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