Job Description

POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATE, Mechanical Engineering (MechE), to join Professor Domitilla Del Vecchio's research group which aims at developing tools for predicting the effect of context on genetic circuits and on their composition, in cell free, bacterial, and mammalian systems. Approaches merge physics-based models with data-driven approaches such as (recurrent) neural networks. The ultimate goal is to obtain subsystem models that are composable such that quantitative prediction of composed subsystems is possible in combinations and contexts that have not been considered for identification/learning. Accordingly, the group seeks to develop genetic controllers for mitigating context-dependence in a variety of setups, including bacterial co-culture stabilization, growth rate control, and transcription/translation resource regulation. This is part of an AFOSR-funded project in collaboration with Caltech, Northeastern University, and a number of additional MIT principal investigators.

Job Requirements

REQUIRED: a Ph.D. in bioengineering, biomedical engineering, molecular biology, microbiology, or a closely related field. Seek a highly qualified and motivated experimentalist who can effectively communicate and collaborate with students with a predominantly theoretical background in order to create composable models of genetic systems, which are context aware, and to build the genetic controllers in question. Job #21926

Interested applicants may also contact Professor Del Vecchio at ddv@mit.edu.

The position is for two years with the possibility of extending it further provided funds are available and satisfactory progress is made. The start date for this postion will be Spring 2023.

9/29/22