PhD Position in Synthetic Biology and Metabolic Engineering (f/m/d)

The Link Lab at the Interfaculty Institute of Microbiology and Infection Medicine at the University of Tübingen advertises a

PhD Position in Synthetic Biology and Metabolic Engineering

to be filled as soon as possible. The position is initially limited to three years.

The research group headed by Prof. Dr. Hannes Link at the University of Tübingen invites applications for a PhD position. The project will focus on metabolic engineering of E. coli to produce the bioplastic cyanophycin from sustainable substrates. You will engineer thermo-switches to dynamically control growth and production in two-stage bioprocesses and use metabolomics to identify and overcome metabolic bottlenecks. You can find more information about our group at https://www.linkmetabolism.com.

Your tasks:

• Engineering and optimization of microbial strains for cyanophycin production using thermoswitches and CRISPR-based tools.

• Integration of targeted and untargeted metabolomics to identify metabolic bottlenecks and guide strain engineering for improved cyanophycin titers and yields.

• Development and optimization of temperature-controlled two-stage bioprocesses at the 1-liter scale for cyanophycin production.

• Preparation of manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals and presentations at conferences.

• Active collaboration within an interdisciplinary research team in microbiology and biotechnology.

Our requirements:

• Masters degree in biotechnology, microbiology, molecular biology, or a related field.

• Background in metabolic engineering, synthetic biology or microbial physiology.

• Experience with molecular cloning, bacterial strain engineering or fermentation is a plus.

• Data analysis skills (e.g. Python, MATLAB) or experience with metabolomics and mass spectrometry are a plus.

• Excellent communication skills in English, both written and spoken.

• Strong motivation to work on fundamental and applied problems in biotechnology and microbiology.

Send your application as one pdf file by email to hannes.link@uni-tuebingen.de. The pdf file should contain: a cover letter, your CV and relevant certificates.  The review of applications will begin April 23 2026 and will continue until the position is filled. Equally qualified applicants with disabilities will be given preference. The university is committed to equal opportunity and diversity. The university aims to increase the proportion of women in research and teaching and therefore encourages qualified female scientists to apply.

The hiring process is carried out by the central administration of the university.