Junior Group Leader Position in Cell Metabolism
Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Barcelona, Spain

The Department of Medicine and Life Sciences (MELIS) of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) seeks a Tenure Track faculty member at the rank of Associate Professor in basic Cell Metabolism. We are looking for candidates in the early stage of their career with a strong background in basic or early translational research, and who demonstrate an outstanding record of research productivity related to discovering the metabolic underpinnings of physiological processes. While we encourage applications from candidates studying any aspect of cell metabolism that would complement and expand upon our existing departmental strengths, we are particularly interested in candidates who explore basic cell metabolism in healthy and diseased states, or metabolites as signaling molecules. The successful candidate will also show a strong commitment to undergraduate and graduate teaching.

Successful candidates will be highly accomplished young scientists with a PhD in Biology, Biotechnology, Chemistry or a similar field, and a strong capacity to lead high-impact research projects. The future group leader should be driven by a desire to contribute to questions of biological and/or medical relevance, independently and in collaboration with other researchers from the Department. The selected candidate is also expected to attract national and international research funds, supervise doctoral theses, and should be able to teach subjects such as Biochemistry, and Cell Biology, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

The Department of Medicine and Life Sciences at UPF
MELIS (https://www.upf.edu/biomed) is an internationally renowned biomedical university department in Barcelona, Spain. It is located at the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB, https://www.prbb.org) with other research institutes, including the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG), the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (HMRI), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL-Barcelona), the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE, CSIC-UPF), and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal). With a staff of more than 300 scientists, MELIS combines the creation and transfer of knowledge through the seamless integration of research and teaching, well in line with the vision and values of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (https://www.upf.edu), which holds top-level positions in national and international rankings for teaching quality and scientific productivity (second Spanish university in the Times Higher Education ranking, 2025). The trajectory of MELIS in research excellence and innovation in education has been recognized three times with the “María de Maeztu” Unit of Excellence award by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (in 2014, 2018, and 2024).

Research at MELIS
Understanding complex biological systems, particularly in human biology and disease, requires interdisciplinary approaches integrating experimental, computational, and engineering approaches. The scientific focus of MELIS is to strengthen and expand our research horizons under the broad overall scope of molecular biomedicine, fostering interdisciplinary collaborations among our research teams. Our department is organized in Research Programs that address this challenge from an integrative perspective through all biological scales (https://www.upf.edu/web/biomed/programmes). Our research groups are supported by cutting-edge core facilities in scientific computing, flow cytometry, proteomics, genomics, peptide synthesis, and advanced light microscopy (https://www.upf.edu/web/sct).
MELIS promotes diversity in an inclusive environment that welcomes applicants regardless of age, disability, gender, nationality, race, religion, or sexual orientation. Women are especially encouraged to apply. MELIS is committed to the principles of the Charter & Code and the Open, Transparent, and Merit-based Recruitment (OTM-R).
Further information regarding our department and the group leader recruitment & selection process can be found at https://www.upf.edu/biomed.
The Offer
• Tenure-track position to be consolidated to a permanent faculty position after 5 years upon external peer evaluation.
• Startup package that includes a PhD student and startup funding of 50k€.
• Dedicated laboratory and office space to accommodate a team of 5 or 6 people
• Start date: September-December 2026.

Application Procedure
Applications must be submitted through the Interfolio website: https://apply.interfolio.com/180316

Applications should include:
1. Motivation letter, describing explicitly how your research goals fit with those of MELIS.
2. Curriculum vitae, including the information listed in the guidelines below.
3. List of 5 selected publications, with a brief description of each of them.
4. Brief proposal of your future research plans at MELIS (max. 2 pages).
Please include an estimate of the equipment and facilities needed for your research.
5. Contact details of 3 references (name, affiliation, and email address) in a single document. References will only be contacted for shortlisted candidates.
Application deadline: applications should be submitted by May 2, 2026.
Interviews: Short-listed candidates will be invited to an interview to be held in June or July 2026.

Contact: Dr. Regina Lopez at recruitment.melis@upf.edu, for enquiries only (applications sent by email will not be accepted). 


CV guidelines

Please make sure that your CV includes the following information (although you do not need to follow this exact format, and feel free to include further information if relevant).
Maximum length: 15 pages.

1. Brief summary of academic and scientific background
2. Education/training
3. Professional academic positions
4. Publications
Specify if publications are original research articles, reviews, book chapters, or books. Provide evidence of impact (e.g., number of citations according to any citation indexing service). Please do not include conference abstracts.
5. Teaching experience
Include the course type (i.e., conventional lectures, practical courses, online courses, MOOCs, graduate or undergraduate level), name of the course, approximate number of students attending, hours per course, and whether the candidate was course coordinator or participant teacher.
6. Grants and funding
Include only grants in which you are/were the Principal Investigator, or held a leading role (e.g., Co-PI or Work Package leader). Please specify title, year, funding agency and amount granted (in US$ or €).
7. Invited conferences and talks
Include only invited talks given personally by you.
8. Technology transfer
9. Other merits (courses, honors and awards, project management experience, etc.)