Senior Research Associate (Biological Microrheology)

Department of Life Sciences

We are looking to appoint a Senior Research Associate to join the interdisciplinary Physical Ecology Lab, in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Lincoln, UK. The position forms part of a larger project with the University of Glasgow entitled ‘Quantum-enabled Nanoscale Rheology of the Microbial Seawater Environment’, as part of the UK EPSRC and NERC quantum environmental sensing programme.

This project will lay the foundations for a new field of applied quantum sensing to address global environmental challenges by measuring the dynamics of the oceanic environment from nano- to micron-length scales. Work by the project team (https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.201138911) has uncovered how the viscosity in the micro- environment surrounding bacteria and phytoplankton plays a role in the dynamics of the microbial environment underpinning biogeochemistry of the oceans, with implications ranging from carbon capture to growth and survival of marine algae.

Using a range of cutting-edge quantum sensing techniques we will be able to obtain a clear idea of what the nanoscale and microscale environment looks like to a marine microbe. Our aim is to consolidate a new field of quantum-enabled nanorheology and to then use this to reveal the 'hidden' impact of small-scale differences in viscosity on the interactions between marine microorganisms and ultimately on ocean and climate dynamics.

A creative and motivated postdoctoral scientist, with experience with COMSOL Multiphysics (or a similar FEM package) and with microfluidics or microrheology, you will be expected to drive the experimental studies required to develop predictive models of the effects of small-scale viscosity gradients on microbial dynamics. Training with the University of Glasgow team will enable you to learn to use their quantum microscope and you will work together to design a new generation microscope that will combine existing multiple particle tracking microrheology (MPTM) and Fluorescence Lifetime Hong Ou Mandel (FLHOM) in the same instrument. Using both experimental and computational methods you will generate testable predictions and provide insight into effects of viscosity gradients on marine microbial dynamics. Key approaches will include nanoscale viscosity profile measurements surrounding single marine microbes and multiphysics modelling of diffusive fluxes around marine plankton.

Contributing to implementation of the whole project, you will help write and publish high quality peer-reviewed scientific papers in addition to contributing to the development of research proposals and applications for external funding. You will contribute to the dissemination of the results to the scientific community through presentation at international conferences and workshops and will also be encouraged and supported to make your own applications for funding and take advantage of our Staff Development Programme.

The Physical Ecology Lab (www.physicalecologylab.org) offers a dynamic research environment where the successful applicant will be a member of a team working closely together and applying techniques from fields as diverse as phylogenetic analysis, microbiology, applied mathematics and biophysics. You will also contribute to the University's ambition to achieve international recognition as a research-intensive institution and will be expected to design, conduct and manage original research. The School of Life and Environmental Sciences is central to the University’s strategy to build its STEM provision and research excellence in the sciences. The School is vibrant and supportive, with an emphasis on collegiality.

Informal enquiries should be made to Professor Stuart Humphries (shumphries@lincoln.ac.uk).