About the ELMI

ELMI was created in 2001 to establish a unique communication network between European scientists working in the field of light microscopy and the manufacturers of their equipment.

PhD position Mapping Microbial Cell Interactions on Biomimetic Surfaces, University of Liverpool, UK

PhD Position Available from Oct 2022, University of Liverpool

Supervisory team:
Professor R Raval (Academic supervisor), Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool.
Dr Marco Marcello (Academic co-supervisor), Centre for Cell Imaging, University of Liverpool.

Nature uses sophisticated strategies to control and eradicate microbial cells. A major scientific challenge is to translate these approaches to artificially synthesised systems. This is an opportunity for a 3.5-year PhD position to understand the fundamental surface-cell interactions and events that control the attachment and adhesion of cells to surfaces and their subsequence multiplication to create complex communities.

This project will create precision biomimetic surfaces and measure their interactions with single microbial cells in order to understand nanoscale aspects of cell-surface interactions, adhesion and cell-cell communication at surfaces. The PhD programme brings together expertise in nanoscale surface assembly and characterisation, cell-surface interaction probes, cell force microscopy, microbiology and imaging across physical and biological sciences.

The PhD student will be based at the Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, within the Open Innovation Hub for Antimicrobial Surfaces and the Surface Science Research Centre, equipped with state-of-the-art facilities for precision surface assembly and characterisation. The Centre for Cell Imaging is a world-class resource for all aspects of biological imaging and bio-probing, allowing real-time imaging of biological responses, from single molecules to multicellular structures.

For additional information please check the job offer.
Deadline: 30th October 2022. Candidates will be evaluated as applications are received, and the position may be filled before the deadline if a suitable candidate is identified.