The Institute of Marine Research (IIM-CSIC) wishes to attract excellent researchers at the post-doctoral level to apply to the prestigious European Commission’s programme Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions – European Individual Fellowship (MSCA-IF).

Why the IIM?

+ info | Goals & Research

The IIM-CSIC is a very competitive host institution, one of the top marine research institutions in Spain, part of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the main research organisation in Spain, third in Europe & seventh worldwide.

The Institute offers a lively research environment to foster and consolidate researchers careers, widening their collaborative networks & increasing their impact on society. Counting more than 200 employees (56% women), 139 published research articles and 85 projects in 2019, and with its own transversal support services of Internacionalization and Public Engagement.

Eleven projects to boost your career

The IIM-CSIC, as a marine research institution devoted to developing knowledge for sustainable development, performs a multidisciplinary research responding to global challenges and to local concerns and enabling an integral and global understanding of marine ecosystems.

Regarding the MSCA-IF Call 2020, the following groups have shown their interest in the programme and are currently looking for an interested candidate to apply with them within one of the following projects:

Supervisor: Ricardo Prego |  Marine Biogeochemistry

Rare earth elements (REEs) constitute a set of 17 elements widely used in our technological society. However, the environmental consequences of the anthropogenic increase of RREs in coastal systems are poorly understood. Our research group is interested on how anthropogenic inputs alter REEs concentration in the environment, and what are the consequences for their biochemical cycles and exchange processes, particularly at the land-sea interface.

📩 prego@iim.csic.es

Supervisor: Josep Rotllant | Fish Functional Genomics

How does animal colouration come about? What processes control the distribution of pigments or pigmented cells in reproducible ways? How is the diversity of coloured fish in a tropical reef generated? This is the problem of pigment pattern formation. Pigment pattern formation is a classic problem in biology, with wide implications both at a basic biological level and an applied level. In our project, we aim to understand the genetic and cellular bases for pigment pattern formation. We use zebrafish and turbot as animal models.

📩 josep.rollant@iim.csic.es 🌐 Project Webpage

Supervisor: Fiz Pérez |  Oceanology

Our research group has a long experience researching the impact of the anthropogenic CO2 in the marine carbon cycles and ocean acidification, using both, in situ observations and laboratory experiments.  We want to continue advancing on the understanding and prediction of the impacts of climate change over marine biota, by interpretation and modelling of data from water mass characterization, as well as CO2 controlled-conditions experiments developed in our installations.

📩 fiz.perez@iim.csic.es

Supervisor: Antonio A. Alonso | Process Engineering

Biochemical noise determines cell fate but precludes the control of population states. Only recently, the control of individual cells in cell population has been undertaken, although with partial success, due to noise during proliferation. We consider the problem of on-line control and stabilization of single cell phenotypes on a bacterial population. To that purpose, we plan to develop a novel control paradigm to guide the modulation of the underlying stochastic gene circuits that regulate metabolic activity, through the available environmental stress variables.

📩 antonio@iim.csic.es 🌐 Supervisor ORCiD

Supervisor: Julio R. Banga |  Process Engineering

In biological systems, optimality principles can be justified from an evolutionary perspective. In the context of computational systems biology, we will develop methods based on these principles to explain the behaviour of complex biomolecular networks. Further, we will also extend this approach to design and control new biocircuits in the context of computational synthetic biology.

📩 julio@iim.csic.es 🌐 Supervisor Profile

Supervisor: Alexandre Alonso Fernández | Fisheries Ecology

A project proposal is offered to investigate how the interaction between natural and anthropogenic factors affect the social connectivity of coastal populations and their impact on conservation. We use in this project the data recorded by a net of acoustic receivers displayed within a marine protected area. This project aims at taking advantage of current projects developed by the research group in the field of spatial ecology and behaviour of marine animals.

📩 alex@iim.csic.es 🌐 Project Webpage

Supervisor: Luís Taboada| Process Engineering

The overall objective of the project is to improve the reliability, robustness and speed of automatic classification and quantification of fish species tools both on-board fishing vessels as well as wild in their environment developed by IIM-CSIC research groups towards the definition of an efficient and useful platform for integration and exchange of information and expert knowledge in the field of artificial intelligence applied to fisheries ecology and management. This objective is addressed through a synergy between interdisciplinary IIM-CSIC teams that have worked on several LIFE and Pleamar Programme projects on this topic.

📩 ltaboada@iim.csic.es 🌐  Project Webpage

Supervisor: Beatriz Novoa | Immunology & Genomics

Our research group uses the zebrafish model to study the molecular basis of the response against virus and also inflammation. We are interested on the study of genes involved in the inflammatory response of particular human diseases and in the development of molecular techniques to block and over-express specific genes using the model of zebrafish larvae.

📩 beatriznovoa@iim.csic.es 

Supervisor: Antonio Figueras | Immunology & Genomics

Our research group is specialized in genomics, transcriptomics, immunology and bioinformatics. We are interested in understanding the genetic variability (transcriptomic and functional) of antimicrobial and bioactive genes from the mussel genome (recently published for our research group) with high biotechnological potential because of their activity against pathogens of mollusks, fish and also humans. We will also study the relationship between the variability observed and the individual microbiomes.

📩 antoniofigueras@iim.csic.es 

Supervisor: Eva Balsa-Canto| Process Engineering

Mixed microbial cultures have enormous potential to perform metabolically complex tasks for industrial biotechnology. Their design requires defining the species to be combined, their relative starting abundances and the environmental conditions. Answering these questions is a challenging task which entails integrating various omics data into models.

We aim at developing computational methods and multi-scale dynamic models to shed light on interspecies interactions and the environmental factors leading to the emergence of cooperation. These models will play a critical role in the rational design and optimal control of novel bioprocesses.

📩 ebalsa@iim.csic.es 🌐 Group Webpage

Supervisor: José Pintado| Fish Larval Biology & Physiology

Bacterial communities associated with Ulva spp. play an important functional role both in morphogenesis and reproduction, considering Ulva and its associated microbiota a singular functional entity or holobiont. Moreover, Ulva spp. host antibiotic-producing bacteria (APB, e.g. Phaeobacter sp.) with known antagonism against fish pathogens.

Using a multi-disciplinary approach, including -omic techniques, the research will contribute to the understanding of the role those APB, and the conditions that favour their predominance in Ulva spp., which would have implications in disease control in fish-algae IMTA-RAS systems.

📩 pintado@iim.csic.es

How to apply?

If you are interested in applying with us, check the project outlines below and contact the project supervisor directly. Alternatively, or if you need more information, you may contact us at lpeteiro@iim.csic.es.

Expressions of Interest must be sent by Friday, 5th June, at 17:00h (UTC +2).

We will offer support to applicants during the preparation of the proposal, as well as expert revision of applications before submission.