PhD student – Molecular microbiology of bacterial biofilms

The PhD project will investigate new emergent behaviors of biofilm communities that do not occur in isolated bacterial cells. The project will utilize a variety of molecular tools to analyze, manipulate, and perturb biofilms. A particular focus will be on the use of transcriptomics, genetics, and confocal microscopy methods for investigating cellular behaviors in biofilms during biofilm growth and during infections. The exact project is flexible and will be developed together with Knut Drescher, depending on the strengths and interests of the PhD student.

The Biozentrum of the University of Basel is one of the world's leading life sciences institutes. With 33 research groups and 500 employees, we are a dynamic and international research community that has spawned many fundamental discoveries in biology and medicine as well as several Nobel laureates.

The research group of Knut Drescher focuses on understanding the development and emergent properties of bacterial communities (called “biofilms”). Biofilms are antibiotic-tolerant bacterial communities that are the cause of many chronic and acute infections in humans, but biofilms are also a model system for understanding basic aspects of multicellular organization in living systems. Our projects utilize highly controlled laboratory experiments based on microfluidic growth systems for biofilms, and stem-cell-derived organoids and bioengineered tissues for infections. We recently made important discoveries about danger signals that trigger biofilm formation (Nature Microbiology 2025) and emergent behaviors of biofilms (Cell 2023) that are the basis for the PhD project.

• A Master's degree with a research thesis in molecular microbiology.

• Highly motivated and talented PhD student.