Introduction to the vacant position:

The Pluripotency for organ regeneration Group at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) led by Prof. Nuria Montserrat is looking for a PhD candidate to conduct her/his predoctoral training on kidney organoid applications to model congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT). The aim of the project is to develop organoid-on-a-chip systems to build vascularized kidney organoids for CAKUT disease modeling. The PhD project will be conducted in the framework of the ERC-2020- Consolidator project entitled: “Engineering Kidney Organoids To Study The Interplay Between Tissue Mechanics And Metabolism: From Development To Disease” (ENGINORG)”.

Main tasks and responsibilities / The successful candidate will develop research involving:

Development of renal derivatives from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) in 2D and 3D cell culture settings.
Development of patient-CAKUT hPSCs
Design and fabrication of lab-on-a-chip and microfluidic devices.
Development and implementation of a microfluidic platforms to study cell-to-cell and organoid-to-organoid cross-talk.
Fabrication and characterization of biomaterials for organoid-on-a-chip applications.
Requirements for candidates:

M.Sc. in biology, biomedical engineering, or similar areas
Previous experience in cell culture and basic molecular biology techniques
Experience in microfabrication techniques/protocols and working in cleanroom environments will be considered a plus.
Competencies and skills: Excellent communication and teamworking skills, proactivity, commitment, critical and analytical thinking
High level of English