Materials science and technology are our passion. With our cutting-edge research, Empa's around 1,100 employees make essential contributions to the well-being of society for a future worth living. Empa is a research institution of the ETH Domain.

The group Multiomics for Healthcare materials at Empa, St. Gallen generates and integrates multi-modal biomedical datasets with the aim to inform development of new sensors, support nanoparticle-based cellular reprogramming strategies and identify new omics-based biomarkers. We work closely with clinical partners and we focus on deep understanding of molecular mechanisms of disease development.

PhD Position in Computational Biology on the Biomarkers for Early Detection of Asthma

Your tasks

We are looking for a highly motivated and enthusiastic candidate who wants to pursue cutting-edge research oriented towards direct clinical applications. The candidate should have a strong background in computational biology or a related field. They will:

• Work closely with the clinical partner to understand the unmet clinical needs.
• Integrate the existing datasets and coordinate generation of new datasets for the scientific problems of interest.
• Analyse the data, write scientific manuscripts and present results at international conferences.

Your profile

Required qualifications include a Master's degree in computational biology or a related field. Prior experience with programming, statistics and biomedical research is essential, while experience with machine learning is advantageous but not strictly required. Excellent English skills, both in verbal and written communication, are required for the project. We are looking for a highly motivated and results-oriented team player.

Our offer

Our team is located in St. Gallen at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technologies (Empa). We offer outstanding conditions for excelling in the field of computational biology and translational biomedical research. The environment at Empa strongly fosters science and entrepreneurship, we offer outstanding infrastructure, a broad interdisciplinary environment and competitive salaries.

The PhD student will be enrolled at ETH Zurich and will be affiliated with the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics. The position is available starting April 2026 or upon agreement with a planned duration of four years.

We live a culture of inclusion and respect. We welcome all people who are interested in innovative, sustainable and meaningful activities - that's what counts.

We look forward to receiving your complete online application including a letter of motivation, CV, diplomas and contact details of two reference persons. Please submit these exclusively via our job portal. Applications by e-mail and by post will not be considered.

Job details

• Title: PhD Position in Computational Biology on the Biomarkers for Early Detection of Asthma
• Employer: Empa
• Location: Lerchenfeldstrasse 5 St. Gallen, Switzerland
• Published: 2025-12-29
• Application deadline: Unspecified
• Job type: PhD
• Field: Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Biomedicine, Programming Languages, Machine Learning, Clinical Sciences