Call for Starting Principal Investigators and for Cori Pairs

About

The Cori Institute of Molecular and Computational Metabolism is a new research institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences dedicated to making human metabolism measurable, predictable and engineerable. We are now recruiting the first generation of scientists who will shape its intellectual identity, research culture and future direction.

We invite applications from outstanding experimental, biomedical, computational, mathematical, engineering and translational scientists for two distinctive routes to scientific independence:

• CORI STARTING PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS
• CORI PAIRS, an innovative shared-leadership model for scientists who want to build something together

This is not simply an opportunity to join an established institute. It is an invitation to help invent one.

The scientific ambition:

Metabolism is the organising logic of life. It governs the transformation, allocation and exchange of matter—from molecules and cells to organs, individuals and ecosystems.

The Cori will establish metabolism as a quantitative and actionable discipline by integrating:

• experimental and clinical biology
• mathematics, computation and artificial intelligence
• metabolic engineering and intervention
• nutrition, environmental exposures and human health

At the center of the institute will be a continuous data–model–intervention cycle: biological measurements inform predictive models; models generate hypotheses and designs; interventions test and reshape metabolic systems. A major long-term ambition is the construction of a quantitative model - a digital metabolic twin - of human metabolism.

Your tasks

We are interested in ambitious research across, but not limited to:

• quantitative and genome-scale metabolic modelling
• dynamic flux, sensing and nonlinear biological systems
• mitochondrial biology and bioenergetics
• metabolic control of cell identity and state
• spatial, single-cell and structural metabolism
• transporters, membranes and inter-organ communication
• metabolic drug discovery and chemical biology
• protein, pathway and cellular engineering
• immunometabolism, aging and neurodegeneration
• organoid and human model systems
• exposome, nutrition, pollutants and environmental metabolism
• automation, high-throughput experimentation and AI-guided discovery

We are especially interested in scientists who connect disciplines that are too often separated: experiment and theory, medicine and engineering, molecules and environments, discovery and application.

Your profile

Starting PIs will establish independent research programmes and receive the resources, freedom and institutional support required to pursue bold, high-risk and potentially field-defining science.

Applicants may be completing postdoctoral training, preparing to establish their first independent group, or have started an independent laboratory within the past few years.

We are looking for scientists with:

• exceptional originality and scientific ambition
• evidence of independence and intellectual leadership
• a compelling research vision aligned with the Cori mission
• the ability to connect experimental, computational or engineering approaches
• enthusiasm for collaboration and shared institution-building
• a commitment to mentoring and developing the next generation
• the courage to pursue questions whose answers may require new technologies, models or organisational forms

Your benefits

Successful candidates will receive:

• a highly competitive, internationally benchmarked start-up package
• full independence to recruit and lead a research team
• protected core funding and support in acquiring ERC, FWF and international grants
• access to state-of-the-art experimental, computational and engineering infrastructure
• dedicated administrative, HR, financial, legal, communications and technology-transfer support
• access to metabolomics, screening, imaging, cell biology, organoid, automation and computational capabilities
• opportunities to shape future infrastructure, potentially including advanced structural biology and cryo-EM
• support for patents, industrial collaborations, entrepreneurship and spin-off formation
• participation in an international PhD programme and a structured postdoctoral programme
• leadership, mentoring, research-management and entrepreneurship training
• an English-speaking, inclusive and family-supportive environment
• opportunities for dual affiliation with the University of Graz, the Medical University of Graz or Graz University of Technology

Appointments are planned for an initial period of up to seven years, with the possibility of extension for strategically important and exceptionally successful programmes. Cori’s partnership with the three Graz universities is intended to create credible long-term academic perspectives and pathways towards permanent integration.

Your application

More details, and link to application platform: https://cori-institute.onlyfy.jobs/job/s0xzzv6o

Application deadline: 12 October 2026

Tentative Hearing dates: 22-24 November 2026 in Graz, Austria

Anticipated starting date: Flexible, from Q1 2027