Your position

We are offering a PhD position in experimental microbiology to study antibiotic tolerance in Mycobacterium abscessus, one of the most challenging to treat bacterial pathogens. The position is part of a newly funded international consortium that brings together experts in mycobacterial genetics, high-throughput phenotyping, structural biology, and clinical research across Switzerland, Israel, Australia and the USA.

The project

Antibiotic treatments for M. abscessus fail in more than half of patients despite in vitro drug activity. A key reason is drug tolerance, the ability of bacteria to survive antibiotic exposure without classical resistance. Our lab (boecklab.com) has developed a large-scale live-cell imaging platform that tracks hundreds of millions of bacteria during antibiotic exposure, enabling systematic analysis of killing dynamics. Using this approach, we have shown that bacterial survival is strongly shaped by the bacterial genetic background and predicts treatment outcomes (Nature Microbiology, 2026). In this project, you will use this platform to quantify bacterial survival at the single-cell level across strains, drugs, and environmental conditions to identify the molecular mechanisms that shape drug tolerance during human infection.

Your role

You will perform and analyse high-content live-cell imaging experiments to quantify bacterial viability under antibiotic exposure across diverse conditions and clinical isolates. In close collaboration with postdoctoral researchers, you will integrate these data with results from CRISPRi and transposon mutagenesis screens to identify molecular mechanisms and M. abscessus genotypes that underlie tolerance phenotypes. Your work will involve systematic experimental design, generation of large-scale datasets, and quantitative analysis of single-cell time-kill dynamics. You will contribute to linking genetic variation to bacterial survival strategies and help build a comprehensive understanding of drug tolerance in clinically relevant settings.

Application / Contact

Please upload a single PDF, including a motivation letter, a CV, and contact details of at least two references. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.