"Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Precision Fermentation"

About This Opportunity

Join our team as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Precision Fermentation and support the development of fermentation workflows in close collaboration with clients, collaborators, and students.

You will be primarily laboratory based and will work closely with our bioprocess team to develop fermentation strategies to better characterise microbial strains.

Key responsibilities will include:

Core Scientific

• Set up, optimise and maintain the instrumented bioreactors in coordination with the IDEA Bio team.
• Perform cultivation of microorganisms (yeast) using existing and refined the fermentation strategies.
• Deliver high-quality data to clients using fermentation workflows.
• Train and provide technical support to students and staff using equipment.
• Organise and maintain bioreactors and probes/sensors.
• Coordinate sample preparation workflows with the proteomics and metabolomics teams
• Provide scientific/technical advice on methods, equipment, quality assurance procedures, risk assessment and waste management.
• Assist the development of research and testing procedures and methodologies, including analysis of quality outcomes.
• Perform experiments and generate reports.
• Carry out sample preparation and analysis on instruments to satisfy and accomplish research outcomes.
• Implement standards and controls for reliable outputs.
• Perform standard maintenance on instruments for optimal performance.

General

• Assist, support and maintain in the day-to-day activities and operations of the centre/team/facility (e.g., booking system and client engagement)
• Perform other duties as reasonably directed by the Research Facilities Manager

Safety

• Ensure a high standard of occupational health and safety standards and systems, including inductions, supervision, equipment training registers, administration of research Facilities, Inventories, reporting and investigating injuries, incidents and hazards.
• Assist with developing a proactive safety culture and implement continuous improvement.

Leadership and management

• Supports the development of more junior research scientists.
• Promptly resolve conflict and grievances when they arise in accordance with University policy and procedures.
• Contributes to research outputs, joint preparation, and authorship of reports/manuscripts.

This is a research focused position. Further information can be found by viewing UQ’s Criteria for Academic Performance.

Position details: Full-time (100%), fixed-term lab-based position for up to 2 years. Base salary will be in the range $82,057.75 - $109,246.18 + 17% Superannuation (Academic Level A). Based at our St Lucia Campus. Part of the Food and Beverage Accelerator Program based in the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN).

About You

• Completion of a PhD in cell biology, molecular biology, biotechnology, biochemical engineering, with subsequent experience, or an equivalent combination of relevant experience and/or education/training in the cultivation of microorganism in instrumented bioreactors.
• Demonstrated research-relevant knowledge and skills with operation instrumented bioreactors and relevant operation software.
• Sound understanding of fermentation processes.
• Demonstrated experience in the cultivation of microorganisms (bacterial, yeast), including screening methods, media selection and standard growth kinetics characterization.
• Demonstrated laboratory skills (media and buffer preparation, sample preparation, implementation of experimental protocols, use of volumetric materials, etc)
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to plan, prioritize tasks, meet deadlines, and work adaptably both independently and in a team.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with proven ability to produce clear, succinct documentation.
• Strong expertise in the Microsoft Office suite of programs, GraphPad Prism, and the ability to learn new programs (e.g., LabArchives, BioRender).

Desirable

• Demonstrated experience in fermentation control, optimisation and scale-up.
• Experience in the use of electronic lab books
• Experience in coding languages (Python, etc)

Want to Apply?

We welcome applications from all individuals and are committed to an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. To be considered, please ensure you upload:

• Resume
• Cover letter
• Responses to the ‘About You’ section

Applications close 11 January 2026 at 11.00pm AEST (R-59791).