PhD position NCCR Genesis: remote sensing of microorganisms in extreme environments

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About the position

UniBE is ambitious.

With us, you deliver top performance and test your skills against the best.

Responsibilities

We are looking for a creative and motivated candidate, a team player, with a MSc degree in physics or engineering. Prior expertise in optics is an asset and a basic understanding of polarisation is a plus. Excellent oral and written skills in English are a requirement.

Requirements

The position is based at the Centre for Space and Habitability, which strives to investigate key questions in space sciences through interdisciplinarity. Our team collaborates tightly with the Microbiology Laboratory (Prof. Pilar Junier) of the University of Neuchâtel where the lab measurements are conducted. The city of Bern is well known for its quality of life, cultural richness and beautiful surroundings offering plenty of opportunities for outdoor activities.

The position is funded for a period of 4 years. The annual gross salary is competitive, ranging from CHF 50,042 in the first year to CHF 53,263 in the final year. Ample funding for travel, publications and computing resources will be available. Child allowance and maternity/paternity leave are offered. Assistance with visa procedures is available for international candidates. Additionally, the CSH offers career advice, mentorship, and teaching opportunities.

Benefits

• International reputation
• Strong research infrastructure and international network
• Interdisciplinary collaboration
• Individual career support

Application

The Centre for Space and Habitability (CSH) at the University of Bern invites applications for a PhD position in the frame of the new NCCR Genesis.

The National Centre of Competence in Research NCCR Genesis is a research infrastructure project funded by SNSF focussing on exploring the emergence of life in the Universe. This interdisciplinary research infrastructure brings together physicists, earth and planetary scientists, chemists and biologists to understand the conditions and the mechanisms that enable life to emerge. Developing reliable methods to detect unambiguous traces of life (biosignatures) – whether through remote sensing or direct onsite measurements – requires significant innovation. These challenges demand close collaboration across physics, biology, chemistry and the earth sciences. NCCR Genesis does not aim to provide answers in all fields, but to drive innovative research and achieve decisive progress.

Details on NCCR Genesis are available on its website https://nccr-genesis.ch .

Our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion

NCCR Genesis is deeply committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. Our aim is to cultivate a respectful and fair work culture with equal access to professional development and support for all. We strongly encourage applications from under-represented groups.

Project description

Are we alone in the universe? The search for life beyond the Earth is one of the most fascinating endeavours that humankind has embarked upon. Recent years have seen tremendous progress in instrumentation, laboratory experiments and theories on the origin of life.

This PhD project will investigate the impact of icy-moon environmental conditions on the detectability of selected bacteria in ice/salt mixtures rapidly exposed to vacuum, extremely low temperatures and high-radiation levels. For this purpose, a high-sensitivity spectro-polarimeter will be interfaced with a temperature-vacuum chamber. Additionally, an electron gun and a UV light source will be used to investigate the incidence of harsh conditions on bacterial samples deposited on ice as a proxy for icy moon conditions. The study will also investigate whether spectro-polarimetry could probe fundamental structures in the microorganisms such as cofactors or proteins in the near UV. The project will thus investigate the detectability of fundamental biosignatures relevant to a wider range of microorganisms. This effort will inform the preparation of future life-detection missions in our Solar System, such as the planned ESA L4 mission to Enceladus.

The successful candidate will join an interdisciplinary team (lead: Prof. Brice-Olivier Demory) with expertise spanning astrophysics, microbiology, biomedicine and engineering. The new group member will have the opportunity to gain unique experience in dual-use instrumentation applicable to both space exploration and medical diagnostics.

Application

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