UNA4CAREER
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement Nยบ 847635.
970862. Group of Biophysics for Biomedicine and Biotechnology (BIOPHYS-Hub)
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Faculty of Biological Science
Our passion is understanding biology from a marked quantitative research personality. We aggregate interdisciplinary capacities from 4 research teams in biophysics with expertise spanning from molecular and cell biology through biochemistry to systems biology and ecology. By taking advantage of physics, mathematics and informatics, we focus on biological complexity through complementary approaches. Our research interests cover different problems related to molecular motors, especially polymerases involved in genetic machineries, and to the functional dynamics of cellular membranes and biological interfaces, for instance, the dynamics of mitochondria and other organelles, the mechanics of cell division and the operation of the respiratory surface at the alveolar airspaces. We are also interested in cell biophysics, particularly in the thermodynamics of the cell, and of other subcellular structures including the cell nucleus, and also in quantitative ecology with studies on the population dynamics (spatial and temporal correlations, effects of climate change). Our main goal consists of making novel hypothesis, models and theories based on physical concepts, and conceptualize biological systems from a genuine quantitative approach. Furthermore, we aim translating much of these methods and concepts at the technological and biomedical settings, with special emphasis in the development of novel tools and applications.
Research platforms in BIOPHYS-Hub: biochemistry lab, cell biology lab, lipid chemistry, protein purification, optical tweezers, bulk and surface rheometry, computational unit, quantitative optical microscopy, spectroscopic microscopy, confocal fluorescence microscopy, atomic force microscopy, cryoelectron microscopy, SEM & TEM, NMR, EPR, X-ray facility (WAXS, SAXS, PDF), DNA replication, RNA transcription, genomic & proteomic facility, translational facility (at hospital Doce de Octubre), ribosome lab, lung surfactant lab, mitochondria lab, nanocolloids lab, soft matter lab, stochastic mechanics, statistical physics, soft matter & condensed matter physics (exp, theory and simulation).
We are searching for enthusiastic candidates bearing a proposal or simply a brilliant brainwave in any research topic of quantitative biology to be developed in our research-hub. We strongly appreciate candidates with a background on bioinformatics, numerical computation, experimental biophysics, engineering, biological physics or mathematics, synthetic biology, systems biology or ecology, even on soft matter physics, either experimental, theoretical or modelling. We strongly encourage candidates with an academic vocation in basic science but aimed by applied research in biophysics in highly synergic environments. We will appreciate that some of the research outcomes can be converted into innovative solutions potentially transferable to non-academic sectors. Our team is highly interdisciplinary, composed of biologists, chemists, physicists and engineers fostering fundamental science in a very stimulating academic & clinical environment. All proposals and ideas would be in principle considered as expressions-of-interest in a selection round by a BIOPHYS-Hub committee (feel free to submit a letter of intent and a CV to the BIOPHYS-HUB secretariat: merbenav@ucm.es). The most exciting ideas will be ranked in a short list and the best candidates encouraged to submit a brief proposal. The selected candidate/s will be invited to write a full proposal with a specific research program to be developed in close collaboration with one (or several) of the senior researchers that compose BIOPHYS-Hub. Required Skills: a physicist, chemist, biologist or biochemist, engineer, mathematician, or similar, with a PhD and experienced skills in quantitative biology. Very strong motivation by a career in academia and a clear desire to outperform.
