Job Offer from July 12, 2024
The Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) research covers a wide range of topics, including nonlinear optics, quantum optics, nanophotonics, photonic crystal fibers, optomechanics, quantum technologies, biophysics, and links between physics and medicine.
The Biological Optomechanics Division at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light is looking for a Student Assistant (m/f/d).
About us
Cells are the basic entities of biological systems. They have particular physical properties, which enable them to navigate their 3D physical environment and fulfill their biological functions. We investigate these physical – mechanical and optical – properties of living cells and tissues using novel photonics and biophysical tools to test their biological importance. Our ultimate goal is the transfer of our findings to medical applications and to improve cell-based diagnostics. We are a highly interdisciplinary research group and value an open culture of knowledge transfer.
Project description
A large fraction of our research centers on real-time deformability cytometry (RT-DC), a high-throughput microfluidics-based imaging technique for cells. With RT-DC, we can measure hundreds of cells per second and characterize them optically (via their brightfield image structure) and mechanically (via their deformation due to microfluidic shear stresses). We showed that RT-DC is sensitive to pathological changes in blood samples during diseases, such as COVID-19. We are currently developing algorithms for the advanced analysis of blood samples. Your part will be to help us generate and annotate data for training neural networks, and assist with the analysis of new and existing data.
Start date:
August or September 2024, 10 – 20 hours / week
Your profile
You are a motivated and enthusiastic student at Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg interested in a job experience in an international scientific environment, working with a friendly team on cutting edge technologies. You have experience with experimental work and analyzing data. You have a general interest in biology and medicine.
Your task
You will learn how to perform RT-DC measurements and do essential data analysis. Your tasks will involve:
- Annotating data for deep learning based algorithms
- Performing RT-DC measurements
- Analyzing RT-DC datasets from medical research projects
- Generating result reports
If you are interested, please apply with your CV and a short letter of motivation latest until July 28, 2024 via our online application tool.
The Max Planck Society is committed to increasing the number of individuals with disabilities in its workforce and therefore encourages applications from such qualified individuals. Furthermore, the Max Planck Society seeks to increase the number of women in those areas where they are underrepresented and therefore explicitly encourages women to apply.