We are looking for a highly motivated post-doctoral research associate to work in the Biomaterials and Regenerative Engineering group at the Center for Biomedical Technology, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (http://www.ctb.upm.es/ ; https://www.upm.es/internacional).

Job description: You will work on a European Pathfinder project that involves 4 state members distributed in Spain (coordinator), Italy, Germany and France. This 4-year project, with 3.5 million euros of funding, is described below (Annex I). The successful applicant will form part of a multi-disciplinary team comprising materials and biomedical engineers, neuroscientists and biologists.

Type of contract: Full-time. The initial contract will be made for 1 year (with an initial 6-month trial period) and is renewable for up to 4 years.

Revenue: Competitive salary

Start date: January/February 2023

Required for the position:

A PhD in materials or biomedical engineering, or related area.

Fluent in English (written and spoken); Spanish is not required

Demonstrable experience on the production and processing of polymeric and natural biomaterials, preferably in the field of fiber production (wet spinning, electrospinning..), including the characterization of the spinnable dope (rheology, analysis of the molecular conformation,…).

Expertise on the development and building of equipment required for spinning. A comprehensive knowledge of techniques for the micro- and nanomanipulation of structures and the creation of ultrastructures from elementary building blocks would be an additional asset.

Strong background on Materials Science and Engineering, especially with the mechanical and microstructural (SEM, TEM, optical microscopy, FTIR; NMR,…) characterization of polymeric fibers.

Knowledge of crosslinking procedures and related processes for the functionalization of materials. 

Expertise on the assessment of the interaction between cells and biomaterials, including the controlled and oriented deposition of the cells on the material.

Demonstrated ability to secure research funding

Enthusiasm for communicating scientific advances

Strong publication record

General responsibilities:

Coordinate all the tasks related with the production of the biomaterials and its interaction with various cell lineages.

Help mentor graduate students in the lab

Attend weekly lab meetings

Coordinate your data between the lab and the other partners in Spain, Germany, Italy and France. 

Present research findings at international conferences. 

Application

Send CV, motivation letter, and contact details of two academic referees to 

Prof. Jose Perez-Rigueiro

jose.perez@ctb.upm.es

ANNEX I

HORIZON-EIC-2022-PATHFINDEROPEN-01

Acronym: THOR

Tittle: building vascular networks and Blood-Brain-Barriers through a Biomimetic manufacturing Technology for the fabrication of Human tissues and ORgans

Summary: Tenths of millions of people with organ failures or suffering from degenerative diseases are waiting for a novel cellular therapy or for a transplant of a donor compatible organ and the immense majority of these patients will die before receiving the tissue or organ they need. Despite the significant advances in tissue engineering, not a single artificial tissue has been used to replace a part of an organ, with the exception of simple or avascular tissues like skin or cartilage.

THOR proposes the development of a revolutionary tissue engineering technology, capable to produce any type of human tissue for organ repair or replacement in case of illness, trauma, or degenerative diseases. Patient-tailored tissues will be fabricated by pools of bioinspired mini-robots in fully automated production plants, using the breakthrough incremental technologies of the THOR project: self-assembling molecules inspired by the extracellular matrix; self-assembling solid and hollow polymeric fibers; materials functionalization using photoactivable crosslinkers; cutting-edge mini robots to wave 3D self-assembling structures with factors and cells with micrometric precision. THOR tissue arises from high-resolution 3D spatial positioning of self-assembling structures, angiogenic factors and relevant cell lineages, reprogrammed and expanded in a dedicated bioreactor under controlled conditions. Our long-term vision encompasses (1) the establishment of a Tissue Engineering industry for personalized organ repair, producing any type of well vascularized and fully functioning tissues and (2) the maintenance of such tissues alive for long periods of time, for an easy transportation to hospitals and clinics, even far from the big cities. THOR will foster the rise of a new industry and of a new biomedical field, while cadaveric donors’ transplants will not be necessary.