About this role
Job offer - JOB - Netherlands - University of Groningen via AcademicTransfer - Posted on: 1 September 2026 1 Sep 2026 University of Groningen Research Field Biological sciences » Biological engineering Engineering » Biomedical engineering Engineering » Chemical engineering Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Application Deadline 11 Oct 2026 - 22:00 (UTC) Country Netherlands Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Not Applicable Hours Per Week 38.0 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No Offer Description The main aim of this interdisciplinary project is to achieve minimal life based on chemical rather than biological components such as DNA, proteins or other macromolecules. Our PhD candidate will contribute by developing new microfluidic tools to work with micrometer-sized coacervate droplets, the compartments in which chemical replication, growth and evolution will take place. What are you going to do? The de-novo synthesis of life requires integrating the essential features of life, which include replication (the ability to copy oneself), metabolism (promoting the formation of one's own components from material in the environment) and compartmentalization (keeping the internal components together and separate from the environment) into a system that is maintained out of equilibrium. Key to the creation of a minimal form of life is Darwinian evolution of the resulting synthetic cell-like systems. Serving as the compartments in our work are coacervate microdroplets, consisting of a very dense aqueous phase containing a high concentration of macromolecules. Because coacervates can exist in dilute aqueous phases without loss of droplet structure, they can act as cell-like spheres without the need of a membrane to contain their content. In this project, you will use micr...