Are you interested in working with topics that have a high impact on society, such as sustainable food proteins, biomaterials, biofuels, and pharmaceuticals? Would you like to do impactful research in the cutting edge of biotechnology with superb colleagues who are top experts in their field? Do you want to build a science career and work in a versatile role at the interface of applied research and industry? VTT might be just the place for you. If you are an international talent searching for a new opportunity, read more about the benefits of living in Finland and VTT’s support for relocation here!
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We are now looking for a Postdoctoral Researcher to join our Protein production team for a fixed-term three-year contract starting in January 2026!
The Protein production team focuses on basic and applied research of filamentous fungi with academic and industry partners. Our primary cell factory, Trichoderma reesei, has been studied at VTT for over 40 years and is an exceptional protein production system. We develop various future technologies to produce sustainable food and material proteins, enzyme mixtures, and therapeutic proteins. These activities support VTT’s mission to build a novel food system and enable bioinspired production for sustainable materials and other products.
In this Postdoctoral Researcher position, you will have an essential role in digitalizing and automating fungal strain development. Adopting data-driven approaches built on machine learning tools and high-throughput experimental approaches into the synthetic biology Design-Build-Test-Learn process has dramatically accelerated the pace and predictability of cell factory design. Fast construction of high-quality cell factories with phenotypes of interest in an effective and reliable way calls for biofoundry-based solutions. Still, for non-model organisms biofoundry pipelines are yet under-developed. Automated pipelines can be designed to increase throughput, reducing technical variability and improving data quality.
VTT started a Postdoc programme in 2023 to develop new ways to support scientific excellence and to strengthen career paths from universities to VTT. We want to provide development opportunities for recent university PhDs in applied research and industry collaboration. As a Postdoctoral Researcher at VTT, you are able to make an impact on our customers and society. Our researchers work closely together with industry, often in interdisciplinary research groups. VTT has excellent research infrastructure and internal services to support your research work.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR:

• You have recently (max 5 years ago) gained your doctoral degree in biotechnology, microbiology/biochemistry, biochemical engineering, or a closely related field.
• You have experience in high-throughput methods, automation, and related programming languages.
• Experience in fungal biology, strain engineering, bioinformatics, or bioprocess engineering is considered an asset.
• You have excellent communication skills in English, both written and spoken.

INTERESTED AND WANT TO KNOW MORE?

For further information, please contact Research Team Leader Antti Aalto, antti.aalto@vtt.fi, +358 50 338 5127.

• Laboratory-based research to develop a pipeline for high-throughput creation and analysis of Trichoderma reesei protein production strains.
• Development of automated methods and their implementation (including AI based analysis and predictive design) to screen for high performing filamentous fungal strains.
• Designing, developing, and optimizing fungal (chassis) strains with enhanced properties relevant for protein production, such as increased secretion, reduced carbon catabolite repression, reduced proteolytic activity, etc.
• Designing standards and metrics for biofoundry operations that allow translating HT small-scale data to larger scale.
• Working as part of the Protein production team and contributing positively to an engaging and supportive work environment.
• Participating actively in dissemination with journal publications and contributing to writing proposals for public funding.
• Supervising or tutoring junior team members.