PhD on development of a digital microfluidic platform for regenerative medicine

Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) is seeking a bright PhD candidate to develop Lab-on-a-Chip devices for high-throughput analysis for the investigation of crosstalk between cells and biomaterials, which are used in regenerative medicine.The device functions as the initial stage of a very powerful cell-screening microarray. The biological interface of the device will be characterized by another researcher, and the main aim of the successful PhD candidate is to build the microfluidic platform.

The successful candidate should be excited about both biomaterials engineering and microfabrication. Doctoral research will be part of wider and exciting efforts currently spearheaded within the Biosensors and Devices Research Group .

JobDescription

Crosstalk between cells and (bio)materials plays a key role in the cell differentiation process in regenerative medicine applications. For these applications, engineered biomaterials embedded in microfluidic platforms can create functional and impactful research tools for cell screening. In this project, you will develop innovative approaches to investigate cell-material interactions and subsequent cellular responses.

You will contribute to the high-throughput cell screening program of the Biosensors and Devices Research Group. The core of the Lab-on-a-Chip device will be several hundreds of independent cell-culturing microunits with fluidic access to culture media with different compositions. In this array, separate units will exploit the multiplexed analysis of biomolecules in real-time. You will design and manufacture the devices. Furthermore, you will design and build a measurement setup, where you will perform and interpret the measurements. Cells and their secretome are targeted analytes. It will be important to develop a good data analysis insight into the different factors (that alter the cell behavior), which if necessary, can be modeled using an analytical or finite-element-based approach. You are expected to do scientific research in the field described above, write a doctoral thesis, and publish research results in scientific journals. An educational and professional development program is offered to all PhD candidates by TU/e.