Postdoctoral Fellow, Mechatronic Engineering For Immunology

Biohub is leading the new era of AI-powered biology to cure or prevent disease through its 501c3 medical research organization, with the support of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

The Team

Biohub is a 501c3 biomedical research organization building the first large-scale initiative to combine frontier AI and frontier biology to solve disease. With our compute capacity, AI research and engineering, and state-of-the-art technology for measuring, imaging, and programming biology, we are enabling scientists worldwide to use AI-powered biology to study how cells operate and organize as systems-ultimately understanding why disease happens and how to cure or prevent it.

Our decoding inflammation team builds tools to enable precise molecular-level measurements of inflammation within human tissues in real time, and develop proactive, early interventions that can be deployed when inflammation - the most significant causes of death worldwide - first flares in the body. You can learn more about our work here.

Our work brings together three powerhouse universities - Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - into a single collaborative technology and discovery engine.

Our Vision

• Pursue large scientific challenges that cannot be pursued in conventional environments
• Enable individual investigators to pursue their riskiest and most innovative ideas
• Facilitate research by scientists and clinicians at our home institutions and beyond

We are a team of passionate individuals powered by technology, guided by scientific research, and driven by collaboration, working toward a mission to cure or prevent all disease. Join us.

The Opportunity

We are seeking exceptional early-career scientists with backgrounds in mechatronics, robotics, microfabrication, or related engineering disciplines to join our growing group as a Postdoctoral Fellow. The ideal candidate will have experience working with engineered experimental systems and living cells, and will be motivated to contribute hands-on to the development of a highly interdisciplinary research platform.

What You'll Do

• Develop and operate components of an experimental platform, including microfabricated devices, script-based liquid handling, and/or 6DOF robotic modules, to study how temporal microenvironments influence immune cell fate decisions
• Conduct quantitative validation studies to characterize system performance (e.g., timing precision, crosstalk, stability)
• Execute and support cell-based experiments within engineered systems, with attention to viability, timing, and reproducibility
• Collaborate across disciplines with colleagues in engineering, imaging, data science, and immunology
• Contribute to the documentation, dissemination, and reproducibility of platform methods and experimental workflows
• Uphold the Biohub's values of open science, teamwork, and scholarly excellence

What You'll Bring

Essential -

• PhD (or equivalent) in engineering (e.g., mechatronics, robotics, bioengineering, mechanical engineering, microfabrication, or related fields), with 0-3 years of postdoctoral or equivalent research experience.
• 3+ years of experience in mechatronics and robotic systems
• 3+ years of experience with scientific programming or scripting (e.g., Python, MATLAB) for experiment execution or analysis
• Understanding of hands-on building, system validation, stress-testing, or scaling experimental platforms

Nice to have -

• Familiarity with PCB design
• 2+ years of photolithography experience
• Familiarity with wet bench
• Surface functionalization experience
• Experience interfacing experimental systems with data analysis or ML workflows

Compensation

The Chicago, IL base pay for a new hire in this role is $84,150.

Benefits for the Whole You

We're thankful to have an incredible team behind our work. To honor their commitment, we offer a wide range of benefits to support the people who make all we do possible.

• Provides a generous employer match on employee 401(k) contributions to support planning for the future.
• Paid time off to volunteer at an organization of your choice.
• Funding for select family-forming benefits.
• Relocation support for employees who need assistance moving

If you're interested in a role but your previous experience doesn't perfectly align with each qualification in the job description, we still encourage you to apply as you may be the perfect fit for this or another role.

#LI-Onsite