Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Tian Lab) - Generative Biology Institute

About the role

At the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), we're on a mission to translate scientific discovery into real world impact. We bring together visionary scientists, technologists, engineers, researchers, educators and innovators to tackle humanity's greatest challenges in four transformative areas: Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture Climate Change & Managing CO₂ Artificial Intelligence & Robotics This is ambitious work - work that demands curiosity, courage, and a relentless drive to make a difference. At EIT, you'll join a community built on excellence, innovation, tenacity, trust, and collaboration, where bold ideas become real-world breakthroughs. Together, we push boundaries, embrace complexity, and create solutions to scale ideas from lab to society. Welcome to the Generative Biology Institute: Led by Founding Director Jason Chin, the Generative Biology Institute (GBI) at the Ellison Institute of Technology is tackling the key challenges in making biology engineerable, and thereby unlocking the unrivalled power of biology for the benefit of humanity. The vision of the GBI is to lay the foundations for engineering biology, and unlock its potential for good. To achieve this, we must overcome two key challenges. First, we need the ability to write in the natural language of biology, enabling the rapid and scalable synthesis of entire genomes with precision. Second, we must understand what to write - determining which DNA sequences will generate biological systems that perform the desired functions. Addressing these challenges will allow us to harness the full power of biology to create transformative solutions across health, agriculture, clean energy and more. The Generative Biology Institute commenced operations in 2025, occupying newly renovated bespoke space in the Oxford Science Park. The team will later move to a purpose-made facility in the Oxford Science Park, currently under construction. Once complete, this state-of-the-art facility will include more than 40,000 m² of research laboratory and office space. It will house over 30 groups and up to 600 employees at scale, focused on solving the two critical challenges in making biology engineerable and applying the solutions to addressing the global challenges encapsulated in EIT's Humane Endeavours. The Tian Lab We are seeking ambitious, creative, and highly skilled Postdoctoral Researchers to join the Tian Lab at GBI. The Tian Lab, led by Principal Investigator Rongzhen Tian, aims to leverage an orthogonal replication system for the accelerated evolution of complex biological functions to i) advance fundamental scientific understanding of molecular and cellular evolution, ii) develop biomolecules to tackle challenges in human-health and industry, and iii) generate large-scale enzyme datasets for training next generation protein design models. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. In your cover letter, please clearly explain your fit, interest, and relevant experience for joining the group. You are also required to upload your research interests, or 1 - 2 research proposals. All applications must be submitted exclusively though the EIT job portal. If you would like to discuss this role in more detail, prior to submitting an application, please contact Rongzhen Tian at rtian@eit.org . Due to the volume of applications, the review and decision process may take 3-6 months. Key Responsibilities: Design, execute, and troubleshoot experiments, including the development of novel methodologies and adaptation of existing techniques to new applications. Analyse complex datasets using computational and statistical tools, interpreting results in the context of broader research goals. Contribute intellectually to the research direction by identifying opportunities for innovation and refining research questions. Prepare and publish high-quality scientific papers, reports, presentations, and protocols. Present research at national and international conferences, seminars, and internal meetings. Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams within GBI, EIT, and external partners to advance complementary workstreams. Build and maintain research infrastructure, laboratory capabilities, and cutting-edge technologies. Mentor and support junior researchers, including PhD students and research assistants. Translate research findings into commercial or translational opportunities in alignment with EIT's mission. Identify and pursue opportunities for intellectual property generation and protection. Ensure research activities comply with EIT's policies, legal requirements, and best scientific practice. Essential and Desirable Knowledge, Skills and Experience: Completed a PhD in a relevant field (e.g., synthetic biology, computational biology and AI, microbial, plant and human cell biology, genomics, robotics and automation, and nucleic acids chemistry.). Track record of delivering ambitious research projects to a high sta

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