Entrepreneurial PhD position – Microfluidic Perfusion Instrument for Retinal Models

A PhD at MIC has little to do with a typical PhD. You will be immersed in an SME with a strong entrepreneurial and innovative spirit, and you will be part of the action from day one.

Your mission

To bring a new product to the market before the end of your PhD. Besides the science, you will learn hands-on how to identify a market, get in touch with end-users, translate their needs into engineering specifications and a real product, and secure the IP at every step. This experience will allow you to learn the basics of entrepreneurship and market-driven research.

The scientific project

PANDORA is an MSCA Doctoral Network of 13 PhD students studying the role of the complement system in Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), the main cause of blindness in the elderly, and developing new ways to model and treat it. Your project is the development of a benchtop microfluidic instrument that keeps living retinal tissue alive outside the body for weeks. Unlike conventional static culture, where the medium is exchanged by hand every couple of days, your platform will recirculate the medium continuously through a closed loop, and you will build it from MIC’s flow control technology, integrating sensors and feedback loops to give full control of the culture microenvironment. A key research question is how to recreate the low-oxygen conditions of the diseased retina, turning the platform into a disease model in its own right. You will validate it with consortium partners on retinal organoids and living retinal explants, including combination drug treatments, and evaluate its path to market.

Your main project will be carried out at our MIC headquarters in Paris under the supervision of Dr. Lisa Muiznieks.

Your profile to become the rockstar of the team

➔ You have a master’s degree (or equivalent) in physics, engineering (bioengineering, mechatronics, engineering physics etc) or related fields.

➔ Ideally experience with one or more of the following:

• Microfluidics
• Cell culture (3D cultures or organoids)
• Sensors or electronics
• Python
• CFD simulations
• 3D CAD and 3D printing

➔ Strong interest in applying AI-based approaches on technical subjects (experience desirable)

➔ You are scientifically rigorous, creative, practical and results-driven.

➔ Fluency in English (IELTS 6.5 or equivalent for non-native speakers)

➔ Knowledge of French is a plus, but not required.

➔ You can think “outside the box” to find simple solutions to complicated problems, you like to tackle complex problems and bring your own proposals to the team.

➔ You don’t like routine, you take initiative and you’re able to quickly adapt to changes in direction.

➔ You want a job that makes sense, want to see the outcome of your PhD in the real world and not only on a lab shelf.

➔ At MIC, we like: Action; creative, autonomous and curious people, team players. Those who act more than they talk, people who challenge themselves and yet care about others. Those who question themselves, those who want an intense and contrasted life.