A pervasive biological principle that is yet to be fully understood and exploited in technological applications is that of self-organization within a collection of simple units or agents. An elementary instance of self-organization is the phenomenon of self-assembly in which units have to assemble in a particular three-dimensional structure without central coordination. Robust self-assembly is at the very root of life if one considers, for instance, the complex organization of a ribosome – the molecular machine responsible for the synthesis of all proteins. Recently molecular pair-wise interaction data provided incomplete readout of those assembly processes. The reconstruction of the actual assembly process from such data can serve as the starting point for a systematic understanding of self-assembly and its underlying principles that can finally be leveraged in technology.
The research position is about how to formulate the corresponding statistical inference problem from such pair-wise interaction data and subsequently how to devise efficient algorithms that work in realistic data scenarios. Real molecular data will be made available through an ongoing collaboration with an experimental group.
Target profile:
- Completed studies of mathematics, electrical engineering (or equivalent fields).
- Good background in stochastic processes and their statistical inference.
- Programming experience (Matlab, R or C++).
- Interest and proactive drive to work in an interdisciplinary field at the intersection between molecular biology and statistics.
We expect the candidate to have excellent evaluations in his studies and to work self-motivated and independently on corresponding research problems. We provide the environment and support to publish and present original research at leading international conferences and in scientific journals and to collaborate with leading international research groups and enterprises. The research project is meant to be completed through a dissertation.
The Technische Universität Darmstadt intends to increase the number of female faculty members and encourages female candidates to apply. In case of equal qualifications applicants with a degree of disability of at least 50 or equal will be given preference. Wages and salaries are according to the collective agreements on salary scales, which apply to the Technische Universität Darmstadt (TV-TU Darmstadt). Part-time employment is generally possible.
How to Apply:
Your application should include a letter of motivation stating the rational of why you apply to this position, CV, transcript of academic records and the names and contact details of at least two references. Application must be sent by email in a single pdf-file using the subject “Application Code No. 22” to the secretary, Mrs. Cramer, Rundeturmstraße 12, 64283 Darmstadt, E-Mail: christine.cramer@bcs.tu-darmstadt.de
