EUROPE: 15 PhD positions in the MSCA-ITN project PHYMOT (physics of cell motility)

About PHYMOT:

From the largest animals to the smallest single-cell organisms, motility is a fundamental characteristic of life. Cell swimming, in particular, underpins a wide range of fundamental biological phenomena, including microbial grazing that fuels the base of the food webs, inter-microbial communication, animal reproduction, and parasitic infection—including severe diseases like malaria trypanosomiasis. Motile microorganisms are among the most important life-forms on earth, not only because of their abundance, but also because of their vital functions, e.g., in symbiosis with mammals or in ecosystems.

Unravelling the basic principles of their propulsion mechanisms is essential for the development of novel strategies in the treatment of diseases, to understand microbial transport like the migration of marine phytoplankton in aquatic environments, and ultimately to open avenues for control of biological systems and the design of artificial nanomachines.

PHYMOT’s broad scientific objective is to understand the physics of cell motility, from single cells to collective behavior. Research on cell motility is flourishing, driven by new experimental, theoretical, and numerical tools from mathematics, engineering, and physics. Within PHYMOT, young researchers will be trained at the interface between physics, biology, and engineering to face core challenges of a modern society such as food production, disease treatment strategies, sustainable and ecological development.

Research Consortium:

• Thomas Kiørboe, Technical University Denmark (DTU), Email me

• Cecille Cottin-Bizonne, Universitè Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCB), Email me

• Anke Lindner, École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles (ESPCI), Email me

• Gerhard Gompper, Forschungszentrum Jülich (JUL), Email me

• Knut Drescher, Universität Basel (UB), Email me

• Markus Engstler, University of Würzburg (UWU), Email me

• Avraham Be’er, Ben Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), Email me

• University of Rome La Sapienza (URS), Email me

• Idan Tuval, The University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), Email me

• Marco Polin, The University of the Balearic Islands (UIB, Email me

• Roman Stocker, ETH Zürich (ETH), Email me

• Yves Emery, Lyncée Tec (LYN), Email me

• Pietro Cicuta, University of Cambridge (UCAM), Email me

• Allen Donald, Synoptics (SYN), Email me

Partner organisations:

Coordination and Project Management: Forschungszentrum Jülich

Email: etn-phymot@fz-juelich.de

Website: PHYMOT

Requirements:

• ESR1 Multiscale modeling of flagellar beating: from waveforms to swimming (Gompper, JUL)

• ESR2: Determination of visco-elastic properties of flagella (Polin, UIB)

• ESR3: Impact of ciliary flows on cell feeding (Kiørboe, DTU)

• ESR4: Observing motile response to complex spatio-temporal chemical stimuli (Stocker, ETH)

• ESR5: Driven motion in a complex environment (Cottin-Bizonne, UCB)

• ESR6: Swimming in complex 3D structured environments (Di Leonardo, URS)

• ESR7: Dissecting bacterial cell-cell interactions and the emergence of swarming and biofilms (Drescher, UB)

• ESR8: Bacteria propulsion and interactions in monolayer biofilms (Gompper, JUL)

• ESR9: Evolution of microswimmer designs in distinct micro-environments (Engstler, UWU)

• ESR10: Automatic imaging of growth and motility of cells (Donald, SYN)

• ESR11: Collective dynamics of microbial parasites (Tuval, UIB)

• ESR12: Understanding the role of spatial geometry on microbial symbiosis (Cicuta, UCAM)

• ESR13: Transport of bacteria in disordered and complex environment (Lindner, ESPCI)

• ESR14: Onset of swarming: why don’t single cells swarm? (Be’er, BGU)

• ESR15: 3D tracking of microbes in multiple gradients (Emery, LYN)

Details & Application