Researcher in Molecular Systems Biology

Do you want to be part of groundbreaking research, supported by skilled and friendly colleagues in an international environment? Are you looking for an employer committed to sustainable working conditions and offering secure, attractive benefits? Join us as a Researcher at Uppsala University!

The Department of Cell and Molecular Biology is organized into seven research programmes which all focus on different areas of cell and molecular biology: Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Microbiology and Immunology, Molecular Biology, Molecular Biophysics, Molecular Evolution, Molecular Systems Biology and Structural Biology. The scientific basis of what we do lies in biology, but our research overlaps with other areas such as medicine, computer science, mathematics, chemistry, engineering sciences and physics. In total, we are over 200 staff and ~60 Ph.D. students. Please read more about the department’s work at https://www.uu.se/en/department/cell-and-molecular-biology.  

This position is based in Johan Elf’s research group at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology. The Elf group works across traditional disciplinary boundaries to explore life at the molecular level. We build physical models of key biological processes and develop advanced measurement techniques to test these models in living cells.

Read more about our benefits and what it is like to work at Uppsala University

Duties
As researcher in molecular systems biology, you will develop and optimize methods to study chromosome structure in M. tuberculosis. You will perform cloning and microscopy of mycobacteria, both pathogenic and auxotrophs, in a biosafety-classified environment (BSL2 and 3) and analyze the resulting image data. Culturing bacteria in microfluidic chips is an important part of the work. You will collaborate with researchers in optics, molecular biology, and image analysis, but are expected to run the project independently and contribute to manuscript writing and dissemination of research results.

Requirements
You should have a PhD in systems biology or biophysics and good knowledge of microbiology and microbial genetics, especially for M. tuberculosis. You should also be familiar with microfluidic cultivation of pathogenic bacteria and have good experience with advanced microscopy and data analysis. Experience working in a BSL3-classified environment is a requirement. You should have good wet lab skills and master molecular biology methods, especially DNA/RNA handling, cloning, and sequencing, but also be competent in analyzing the results. You should have experience in modifying gene expression using CRISPR-interference in mycobacteria. You should be proficient in the programming languages ​​Python and MATLAB. Since the project requires collaboration with other researchers in the group, you should have good social skills and be able to communicate freely in English.

Additional qualifications
Experience with AI-based analysis methods is an advantage.

About the employment
The employment is a permanent position. The scope of the employment is 100 %. Starting date May 2026 or as agreed. Placement: Uppsala

For further information about the position, please contact: Irmeli Barkefors, +46 18 471 66 81, irmeli.barkefors@icm.uu.se
 
Please submit your application by 12 March 2026, UFV-PA 2026/589.

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