PostDoctoral Position: Image-Based Drug Screening Against Bacterial Pathogens

PostDoctoral Position: Image-Based Drug Screening Against Bacterial Pathogens

EPFL - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne

Lausanne, Switzerland

Mission

A postdoctoral position is available in the laboratory of Prof. Alex Persat (EPFL School of Life Sciences, to establish a new image-based drug screening platform targeting gram-negative pathogens (Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa). The project will combine single-cell/single-bacterium imaging approaches with the lab's tissue-engineered infection models to identify and characterize compounds active against these priority pathogens.

Main duties and responsibilities

• Design and build a microscopy-based phenotypic screening pipeline (live imaging, high-content, single-cell resolution) to assay compound activity;
• Develop imaging assays capable of distinguishing mechanism of action (e.g. growth inhibition, biofilm/attachment disruption, membrane integrity);
• Develop or adapt image analysis and quantification pipelines with AI support to handle screen-scale data;
• Follow up on screening hits to identify their molecular target or mechanism of action (e.g. via genetic, chemical-biology, or biophysical approaches), with support from other lab members' expertise in microbiology and drug discovery;
• Collaborate with the lab's discovery and design efforts (natural products, AI-enabled molecular design) to feed prioritized targets and hits back into upstream design;
• Apply the pipeline to screens in both standard culture and, in collaboration with other lab members, the group's organoid/tissue-engineered infection models (airway, gut) to prioritize physiologically relevant hits;
• Co-supervise PhD students and contribute to method development, data management, and grant reporting.

Profile

• PhD in microbiology, biophysics, bioengineering, or a related field (completed or near completion) with at least a first author publication;
• Hands-on experience with quantitative microscopy (live-cell imaging, high-content screening, or single-cell/single-bacterium imaging);
• Comfort with image analysis pipelines and scripting (Python), experience integrating ML-based image analysis is a plus but not required;
• Interest in working across the interface of imaging, microbiology, and drug discovery.