PhD position in Biohybrid Robotics

The thesis work will focus on: Designing and engineering bioreactors for the mechanical tensioning, electrical stimulation, and long-term maturation of engineered muscle constructs; Bioprinting of complex muscle architectures using extrusion- and light-based approaches; Fabrication, characterization, and motion modelling of muscle-actuated biohybrid robots, potentially leveraging machine-learning approaches for control and motion prediction; Beyond these core directions, the candidate will contribute to broader efforts within the lab, including the integration of engineered neural networks with muscle constructs, the development of proprioceptive sensing in living actuators, and the exploration of new scaffolding materials and cell sources for sustainable biohybrid robotics; The outcomes of the PhD are expected to advance muscle-driven robots toward applications in adaptive prosthetics, biohybrid medical implants, and regenerative tissue engineering.

The Soft Robotics Lab within the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at ETH Zurich is inviting applications for an open doctoral position. We are looking for an excellent researcher to join and advance our research efforts in the fabrication and control of biohybrid robots. Our lab's goal is to build, model, and control robots in a fundamentally different way, so that they become more flexible, dexterous, capable, and adapt better to their environment. The doctoral candidate will join an interdisciplinary team working at the intersection of tissue engineering, biofabrication, robotics, and control. Day-to-day mentorship will come from senior biohybrid researchers in the lab, including Miriam Filippi and Aiste Balciunaite, both co-authors on the works cited above. Cross-group collaborations within ETH Zurich and active international collaborations with IBEC Barcelona (Sanchez, Guix), the University of Tokyo (Takeuchi), and Empa (Clemens) are part of the day-to-day research environment.

• Hold a Master's degree in mechanical engineering or a closely related engineering discipline (e.g., bioengineering, materials science and engineering, robotics)

• An engineering mindset is essential; a purely biological background will not be sufficient for this role

• Have an excellent track record and meet the general admission requirements for a doctorate at ETH Zurich

• Bring a foundational understanding of cell biology, basic mechanics principles, and materials science/engineering

• Have completed prior research work with cell or bacterial culture, at minimum as a course project

• Experience with mammalian or non-mammalian cell culture, biomaterials, or biofabrication is a plus