Apply for a PhD @ CRG

 | Eligibility criteria | How to apply  |  Selection process | CRG PhD call timline | Fellowships Available | Contact

Apply now to boost your scientific career in the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona. The CRG is a center of excellence with international teams representing a broad range of disciplines, with first class core technologies to support the research projects, a wide range of seminars given by high-profile invited speakers, and courses on complementary and transferable skills integrated in the training programme.

In this call, we offer 14 fully funded PhD fellowships in the following CRG labs:

BAUD LAB

Nature and Nurture | Social Genetic Effects | Host-Microbiome Interactions | Big Data | GWAS | Next-Generation Sequencing | Linear Mixed Models | Rodent Models

Our Research

The “Social and host-microbiome systems" group headed by Dr Amelie Baud aims to understand how the health of an individual can be affected not only by the individual’s own genes but also by genes of social partners and genes of the bacteria present in the individual’s microbiome. Hence our work is at the frontier of Nature and Nurture.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for a candidate with background in genetics and/or statistics, mathematics, physics, computer science. Experience with, or a strong interest in, coding using R and/or Python is necessary. As mixed (dry and wet) projects are available, candidates with an interest in working with laboratory rodent models are also encouraged to apply.

DIAS & FRAZER LAB

Probabilistic Modelling of Sequence Data | Machine Learning | Human Genetic Disease | Biodiversity | Comparative Genomics | Bayesian Statistics

Our Research

The “Probabilistic machine learning and genomics” group, headed by Jonathan Frazer and Mafalda Dias, aims at predicting the effect of genetic variation by developing novel machine learning approaches, with an emphasis on disease genetics. 

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for researchers excited about applying statistical modelling/ deep learning to biological problems, with a background in mathematics, physics, statistics, computer science or computational biology.

DICROCE Lab

Chromatin Biology | Epigenetics | Gene Regulation | Cancer | Stem Cells

Our Research

The 'Epigenetic Events in Cancer' group headed by Dr Luciano Di Croce investigates the mechanisms implicated in embryonic and adult stem cell differentiation and in cancer progression.

Who are we looking for?

A highly motivated researcher with a background in gene regulation, epigenetics and stem cell. A strong interest in cancer biology and cell differentiation is required.

FERRER LAB

Enhancers | lncRNAs | Genome Editing | Beta Cell Differentiation | Single Cell Genomics | Diabetes Mellitus

Our Research

The regulatory genomics and diabetes lab is interested in understanding new mechanisms understanding gene regulation in pancreatic beta cells. It also exploits regulatory genomics to discover mechanisms and therapies for diabetes.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for a candidate to develop a PhD project that uses experimental models to understand the regulatory impact of noncoding DNA variants that underlie human diabetes.

GUIGÓ LAB

Transcription Regulation | Syntactic and Semantic Patterns in the Genome Sequence | Computational Biology | Bioinformatics | Statistics | Evolution Gene Expression

Our Research

Our lab is interested in understanding the genetic and epigenetic factors that regulate transcription, and the relationship between transcriptomes and phenotypes. The lab is also interested in the understanding of the syntactic and semantic patterns in the genome sequence that define genes, and in developing methods to predict genes in the genomes of eukaryotic species.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for a highly motivated researcher with a background in computational biology and bioinformatics. Familiarity with basic evolutionary and molecular biology concepts, and good statistical (data analysis) and programing skills are a must. Familiarity with mathematical and quantiative approaches is preferable.

IRIMIA LAB*

Comparative Genomics and Transcriptomics |Origin of Organs and Cell Types | Microexons | Evolutionary Medical Genomics

Our Research

The lab is interested in understanding the roles that transcriptomic diversification, especially through alternative splicing and gene duplication, plays on vertebrate development and evolution.

Who are we looking for?

We look for someone that loves Science and research. Experience with single-cell RNA-seq computational analyses will be a plus.
* In June 2023, M.Irimia will leave the CRG after completing 9 year long  junior PI stay and the PhD position will be linked to the new institution.

MALHOTRA LAB

Tissue Engineering | Fibrosis | Ulcerative Colitis | Extracellular Matrix | Protein Secretion | Quality Control

Our Research

In the ´Intracelullar Compartmentation´ lab headed by Prof. V. Malhotra, a combination of approaches involving animal models, tissue from patients, bioinformatics, and genomics are being used to address how cells control collagen and mucin secretion.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for a highly dedicated, independent and yet collaborative, motivated, and ambitious person with an interest in understanding the basic principles in life sciences. Expertise in molecular biology techniques is an absolute must. This includes CRISPR based knockouts and knockins in mammalian cells.

RUPRECHT LAB

Mechanobiology | Morphogenesis | Cell Dynamics | Live Cell Microscopy | Bioengineering

Our Research

The ‘Cell and Tissue Dynamics group’ headed by Dr Verena Ruprecht combines physics and biology to study morphodynamic cell and tissue plasticity and multicellular self-organization in the embryo.

Who are we looking for?

We are interested in hiring a highly motivated researcher with a background in cell biology, biophysics, bioengineering or a related field having a strong interest in fluorescence microscopy, image analysis and synthetic biology.

SDELCI LAB

Cancer Metabolism | Chromatin | Nucleus | Cell Cycle | Epigenetics

Our Research

The Sdelci lab aims to understand the role of metabolic enzymes localizing in the nuclear environment. We want to know how they go there, why, and what happens if we remove them from the nucleus.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for a highly motivated researcher with a background in cell and molecular biology. Experience in bioinformatics, microscopy and omics (genetic screenings, proteomics, epigenomics) would be a plus!

SERRANO LAB

Synthetic Biology | Systems Biology | Protein Design | Human Therapy

Our Research

Our group is engineering a human lung bacteria to treat human lung diseases. We combine protein design with bacteria engineering and design of gene circuits

Who are we looking for?

A highly motivated researcher with a background in structural biology, cell biology or microbiology. A strong interest in quantitative and synthetic biology is required

STROUSTRUP LAB

Aging | Systems Biology | Molecular Genetics | Computational Biology

Our Research

The "Dynamics of living systems" group studies the molecular origins of aging and how changes at the molecular effect the timing of organismal outcomes like death.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for two types of candidates 1) wet-lab researchers interested in studying the molecular genetics of aging using a variety of quantitative techniques 2) computational biologists interested in applying bioinformatics tools to ask questions inspired by statistical physics.

SURREY LAB

Cytoskeleton | Self-organization | Molecular crowding | Phase separation | Microfabrication | Fluorescence Microscopy

Our Research

The 'Intracellular Self-Organization Group' headed by Dr Thomas Surrey aims to understand from a biochemical and physical perspective how human cells organize their dynamic intracellular architecture, focusing on the microtubule cytoskeleton.

Who are we looking for?

A highly motivated researcher who is trained in biochemistry and/or biophysics. The ideal candidate has a strong interest in understanding biological questions at a mechanistic level and enjoys developing new experimental approaches.

VERNÓS LAB

Cytoskeleton | Microtubules | Cell Division | Cancer | Aneuploidy

Our Research

The Vernos Group aims at understanding how the bipolar spindle segregates faithfully the chromosomes during mitosis and meiosis and the mechanisms that may be at stake in pathologies such as infertility and cancer.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for a highly motivated researcher with a background in cell and cancer biology and solid skills in quantitative cell biology and advanced optical microscopy methods.

WEGHORN LAB

Cancer Evolution | Human Evolution | Population Genetics | Probabilistic Modeling | Selection Inference | Mutation Rate Models

Our Research

The 'Evolutionary Processes Modeling' group, led by Dr Donate Weghorn, focuses on the statistical modeling of evolution in cancer tumors as well as in the human germline via the inference of mutation rates and selection pressures from sequencing data.

Who are we looking for?

The ideal candidate would have a quantitative training background in physics, statistics, computer science, population genetics or a related discipline, experience with computer programming, and a strong motivation to explore the principles of population genetics in the context of cancer evolution or human evolution.

Eligibility criteria

Candidates should fulfil the following eligibility criteria at the time of the call deadline. If it becomes clear before, during or after the evaluation phase that one or more of the eligibility criteria have not been fulfilled, the proposal is declared ineligible and is withdrawn from any further examination.

• The call is open to candidates of any nationality.
• Candidates must have obtained a University Degree and a Masters Degree in biomedical sciences within the European Higher Education System (minimum 300 ECTS) or an equivalent University Degree that allows to start a PhD thesis in Spain. Candidates who expect to be awarded with such degree by September 2023 are eligible to apply.
• Candidates must have an excellent academic record, previous research experience and a strong commitment for scientific research.
• Candidates must have a high working knowledge of English
• Candidates invited to previous CRG PhD call interviews are not eligible
• Candidates performing their Masters at the CRG are not eligible
• Candidates may not have worked at the CRG for more than 3 months before the call deadline

How to apply

• Applications must be submitted online 
• Candidates must register in order to use the online application system.
• The online application form requests all of the necessary information for the initial stages of the selection process (General information, education, coursework, honours, scholarships, prizes and awards, research experience, scientific interests and reference letters.)
• If the academic transcripts are not in Catalan, Spanish or English applicants should also attach a translation in one of the above mentioned languages.
• Two reference letters will be automatically requested to the referees proposed by the candidate through the online system.
• Applicants should select a maximum of 2 labs in which they would like to work. 
• Candidates must ensure that all information and documents are included before the deadline, including the reference letters. Incomplete proposals will not be considered.

Once the application is submitted, an acknowledgement of receipt will be automatically sent by e-mail to the applicant.

For any additional information, please check the FAQs. 

Selection process

The selection of the fellows will be based on the candidates' academic qualifications and research excellence.

• Pre-selection: The pre-selection will be based on the candidate's CV, reference letters and on the research interests. Complete applications will be reviewed within a month after the deadline.
• Oral interviews: The interviews will take place from the 6th to the 9th March 2023, in a virtual format. Please be aware that during all those days, interviews and important presentations will take place. Full details regarding the interview process will be sent to invited candidates 4 - 6 weeks after the application deadline.
• Notification to candidates: Offers will be made to the successful candidates short after the interview. Successful candidates would be expected to start the PhD latest by October 2023.

CRG PhD Call Timeline

Fellowships available

Contact

For any additional information, please contact the CRG Training & Academic Office at: training@crg.eu