We are recruiting a group of postdocs who are eager to pursue ground-breaking biomedical research, and we will help them to establish themselves as future scientific leaders. This postdoc program is designed to prepare postdoctoral researchers for a successful ERC Starting Grant application or equivalent and for an independent research career in top research organizations in Europe and around the world.

The postdoc program is based at the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, one of Europe’s leading centers for basic biomedical research – with clinical translation in mind. Our partners are the Medical University of Vienna and the St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research Institute (CCRI). Selected candidates will join one of CeMM’s research groups for 3 to 6 years, addressing ambitious research questions in areas such as cancer, immunology, chemical biology, epigenetics, metabolism, genomic medicine, and aging research. Research projects will focus on medically relevant problems, including disease mechanisms, modern therapeutics, and diagnostic strategies. On top of this, postdocs will receive extensive career development and leadership training from the entire CeMM Faculty and additional experts in a highly collaborative and supportive environment.

What we offer:
•    A unique blend of a frontier research environment at top level with a strong medical and translational focus through the hospital setting and the connections to biotech and pharma.
•    An international group of highly collaborative colleagues that will help you achieve your scientific and career goals.
•    Top-notch environment with the ideas, projects, resources, infrastructure, collaborations, and mindset for ground-breaking research.
•    Excellent track record of past postdocs who have become internationally successful principal investigators, professors, entrepreneurs.
•    Strong focus on disease biology and translational research: cancer, metabolic disorders, inflammation/infection, aging, drug discovery.
•    Interdisciplinary projects connecting biology with medicine, experiments with computation, and discovery with translation.
•    Unique opportunity to engage in close interactions with physicians and clinical researchers at the Medical University of Vienna on one of Europe’s largest medical campuses.
•    Opportunities to collaborate with industry (biotech/pharma) and to get involved in academic start-up/spin-off companies.
•    Training program in project management, scientific writing, visual communication, entrepreneurship, leadership, and data science.
•    Special training for writing successful ERC Starting Grants as a ‘ticket’ to an outstanding academic career.
•    Being part of a thriving academic and social community in Vienna, one of the cities with the best quality of life in the world.
•    A competitive postdoc salary of EUR 4.061,50 gross monthly (following the recommendations of FWF), paid 14 times yearly.
•    The CeMM employment contract includes full insurance (health, accident, pension) and a one-off payment for moving from abroad.
•    CeMM’s HR department and administrative team offer support with relocation, visa applications, onboarding, family support, etc.

Whom we are looking for:
•    Candidates who want to pursue innovative biomedical research and substantially advance their scientific career.
•    Candidates with international professional experience and enhanced potential to receive an ERC Starting Grant in the future.
•    Open to both PhD (natural sciences) and MD (medical sciences) holders.
•    From a variety of academic backgrounds: molecular biology, biomedical research, bioinformatics, biochemistry, bioengineering, etc.
•    With the motivation, skills, experiences, and initial achievements (subject to academic age) to qualify for a competitive postdoc program.
•    Required are scientific quality and originality, as well as a collaborative and interdisciplinary mindset.

Potential projects:

We are open to ideas that fit into the broader scope and mission of the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine and expressions of interest in the research of all groups, but concrete projects and groups offering positions are:

• Bioinformatics for precision medicine (Bock Lab). Integrative analysis of single-cell multi-omics and spatial imaging for cancer, immunology, or rare genetic diseases. Contribution to the Human Cell Atlas (single-cell focus) and/or the European Lab for Learning & Intelligent Systems (machine learning / artificial intelligence focus).
• Cancer organoids and immune cells (Bock Lab). Development of immune-enriched organoids for disease modeling in cancer and beyond. Single-cell multi-omics and/or spatial imaging of the tumor microenvironment. Optional focus on bioengineering of immune cells for therapy (CAR T cells etc.) and preclinical testing in organoids and mice.
• Development and application of deep learning methods to understand human aging (Rendeiro Lab).
• Chromatin modifiers in hematopoiesis and leukemia (Seruggia Lab).
• Membrane transporters and metabolic regulation of disease (Superti-Furga Lab).

Eligibility Criteria:

• You must hold a PhD (or will have been awarded your PhD by the time of starting the Pre-ERC Postdoc Program in October 2023) and your PhD defense date must be no earlier than 2020.
• You must have at least one first-author publication published by the time of starting the Postdoc.

Please apply online at cemm.onlyfy.jobs/job/fox39lby with 1) a cover letter including a short summary of research interests and mentioning which research group(s) at CeMM you would be potentially interested in joining, 2) curriculum vitae (CV), 3) academic transcripts, and 4) contact details of three referees. Applications received by 25 March 2023, at 11:59 pm CET will be considered. The preferred starting date is October 2023 or earlier.