PhD Student (m/f/d) Organoid & Tubuloid Models in Kidney Adaptation (ERC-funded)

Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), and Kiel University (CAU)

You will work at the interface of Kiel University (CAU) and the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), one of Germany’s leading academic medical centers. The research environment includes close collaboration with the Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology (IKMB) and the Competence Centre for Genomic Analysis (CCGA), providing access to cutting-edge genomics infrastructure and expertise. Kiel hosts multiple Excellence Clusters (including Precision Medicine in Chronic Inflammation) and Collaborative Research Centers (SFBs), offering a highly interactive ecosystem connecting basic science, computation, and clinical research.

We are seeking a PhD student to join the ERC Starting Grant project SINGuLAR (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101219388) at the Balzer Lab (https://balzer-lab.org), investigating how human kidneys adapt to organ loss.

Our lab studies how human kidneys regenerate after organ loss using cutting-edge single-cell and translational approaches. Rather than focusing on injury, this project investigates pure adaptation in living kidney donors—a unique human model in which individuals lose 50% of kidney mass yet show remarkable compensatory growth.

Start in our team

We are looking for professional and competent support to start as soon as possible, limited for 3 years.

What we offer:

• The salary will be based on the German E13 TV-L scale, if terms and conditions under collective bargaining law are fulfilled
• Part-time employment currently 25 hours/week
• Access to state-of-the-art single-cell and spatial omics technologies
• Structured supervision and training, with strong support for skill development, publications, and career progression
• You can find more attractive UKSH benefits here: Benefits (uksh.de)

Your role:

• You will contribute to building the first longitudinal single-cell and spatial atlas of human kidney adaptation, while establishing complementary patient-derived organoid and tubuloid models.
•  You will focus on developing and applying experimental systems to functionally interrogate adaptation mechanisms identified through multi-omic analyses.
• Specifically, you will establish tubuloid cultures from patient samples, systematically expand and biobank these models, and perform molecular and functional characterization
• You will work closely with other team members generating single-cell and spatial datasets, enabling the integration of in vitro models with human in vivo data
• Over the course of your PhD, you will initiate mechanistic and validation studies, with increasing independence.

Your profile:

We are looking for candidates with a strong interest in organoid/tubuloid systems, kidney biology, and/or single-cell biology, and a willingness to develop skills in bioinformatics analysis and data integration.

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in molecular biology, cell biology, bioengineering, bioinformatics, or a related field
• Experience with cell culture, organoids, or primary cell systems is highly desirable
• Experience or interest in functional and mechanistic studies in human-derived model systems
• Basic programming skills in R and/or Python (or willingness to learn)
• Interest in or willingness to engage in computational analysis (single-cell workflows)

We are looking forward to your application including a motivation letter, CV and contact details of two references. Please submit your application until 21st May 2026, indicating the reference number 28518.

Contact for Information:

• Prof. Dr. med. Michael Sören Balzer (E-Mail: MichaelSoeren.Balzer@uksh.de)