Postdoctoral Research Associate

Full-time: 35 hours per week

Fixed-term: 36 months 

The opportunity:

We are seeking a highly motivated and creative Postdoctoral Research Associate to join an interdisciplinary research team investigating the biology of cell wall-deficient bacteria (CWDB) and their potential to establish long-term endosymbiosis within mammalian cells. The project, led by Dr Maddie Moule, will commence on 1 September 2026 with appointment for three years.

While bacteria are typically surrounded by a rigid peptidoglycan cell wall, under conditions of environmental stress many bacterial species undergo a remarkable physiological transition to a CWDB state in which they completely or partially lose their peptidoglycan cell wall. Despite this, the bacteria retain the ability to grow and divide. These variants, also known as L-forms or L-phase bacteria have been repeatedly identified in clinical samples from patients with recurrent or chronic infections, suggesting that they could play a role in the establishment of latent bacterial reservoirs. Although the role of CWDBs in disease remains debated, their lack of a highly immunogenic cell wall is thought to reduce recognition by the host immune system, enabling long-term intracellular persistence. These unique biological properties suggest that CWDBs may represent a naturally evolved strategy for prolonged, immunologically silent residence within mammalian cells.

This role based in the Moule lab (biology.ed.ac.uk/moule) will be part of a larger project funded by a Human Frontiers Science Program (HFSP) research grant that brings together microbiology, mammalian cell biology, synthetic biology, quantitative imaging, spectroscopy, metabolomics, and mathematical modelling to push the boundaries of our understanding of endosymbiosis. The successful candidate will work closely with other team members at the University of Oxford, University of Paris-Saclay and the University of Waterloo in Canada to contribute to an ambitious programme aimed at understanding the physiology of CWDBs, their interactions with mammalian host cells, and their development as metabolically active intracellular symbionts with the ultimate goal of developing synthetic mitochondria. This position offers an exciting opportunity to contribute to a high-risk, high-reward research programme at the interface of bacteriology and future medicine.

This post is full-time (35 hours per week), however, we are open to considering flexible working patterns.

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