Postdoctoral Research Fellow

This new full-time post is available from 1 October 2025 until 31 March 2028 on a fixed term basis.

The post

The Faculty of Health and Life Sciences wishes to recruit a Postdoctoral Research Fellow that will work in the group of Prof Stefano Pagliara and will participate in the project “Understanding stereochemical selection across proto-cellular membranes”.

The overarching aim of this project is to investigate the biomechanics of membranes to understand whether the core lipids of primordial cellular membranes could provide stereochemical compound selection. This project is funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and will involve working in collaboration with Prof Thomas Richards, University of Oxford, Dr Juliano Morimoto, University of Aberdeen and Prof Mark Blaskovich, University of Queensland.

The successful applicant will have extensive expertise in biophysics. During this project, the successful candidate will investigate the biomechanics of biological membranes and will measure the mechanical properties (including tension, fluidity, bending rigidity, area expansion modulus) of giant unilamellar vesicles made of different membrane lipid types during exposure to different metabolites.

These investigations will rely on the use of optical tweezers, force spectroscopy, vesicle electroformation instrumentation, microscopy and image analysis and will allow to reveal the impact of membranes biomechanics on permeability to metabolites, as well as determining whether the uptake of metabolites from the environment alters membranes biomechanical characteristics.

About you

The successful applicant will be able to develop new methodologies and research objectives, write high impact publications and make presentations at conferences and other events.

Applicants will possess a PhD in biophysics, physics, or engineering. The successful applicant will be a nationally recognised authority in biophysics and possess sufficient specialist knowledge in the discipline to develop research methodologies. The successful applicant will also be able to work collaboratively, supervise the work of others and act as team leader as required. Applicants will be able to use optical tweezers, force spectroscopy, microscopes and software for the programming of microscopes and related instrumentation, and ideally have prior expertise in the field of membrane transport and in the electroformation and characterisation of unilamellar lipid vesicles.

Please ensure you read the Job Description and Person Specification for full details of this role.

The University of Exeter

We are a member of the prestigious Russell Group of research-intensive universities and in the top 200 universities in the world (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024 and QS World University Ranking 2024).  We combine world-class teaching with world-class research, achieving a Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework Award 2023, underpinned by Gold ratings for Student Experience and Student Outcomes.

Our world-leading research impact has grown more than any other Russell Group university in recent years, and we are home to some of the world’s most influential researchers, seeking to answer some of the most fundamental issues facing humankind today.  More than 99 percent of our research is of international quality and 47 percent is world-leading (2021 Research Excellence Framework).

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Commitment

We are committed to ensuring reasonable adjustments are available for interviews and workplaces.

Whilst all applicants will be judged on merit alone, we particularly welcome applications from groups currently underrepresented within our working community.

Further information

For further information please contact Prof Stefano Pagliara, e-mail s.pagliara@exeter.ac.uk or telephone (01392) 723171.

Advert information