Advanced cell migration assays

PhD position (Experimental Biophysics)

The position at the ibidi GmbH is part of the EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network InCeM (Integrated Component Cycling in Epithelial Cell Motility). InCeM is focused on cell migration, which is essential for vital processes such as tissue formation, wound healing and tissue invasion during carcinogenesis (incem.rwth-aachen.de). The project runs in collaboration with Prof. Rudolf Merkel at the Research Center Jülich (www.fz-juelich.de). Candidates need to have a master degree that is not older than 4 years and must not have spent more than 12 months of the last 3 years in Germany.

The project will give you the opportunity to work directly in a development group and to visit workshops, lectures and project partners in the network. It will allow you to learn experimental techniques, work with new materials and comprises an attractive salary.
The ibidi GmbH develops and sells products in the field of cell based assays (www.ibidi.de) with the appropriate instrumentation and reagents.

The project of ibidi deals with advanced cell migration assays. With existing migration assays the acquisition of cell migration data is usually observed in relation to one physical parameter such as a chemical gradient or surface topology. Relevant information for the understanding of cell behavior, however, requires observations that are performed in the presence of several precisely adjusted parameters. In the project we aim to establish new cell migration assays in which movement of cells can be correlated to several fixed parameters at the same time. It should be possible to track and analyze cell shapes to obtain additional information on overall cell motility as well as to calculate the forces of the cells applied to a matrix.