Postdoc (m/f/d) Experimental Single-cell & Spatial Omics 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 postdoctoral researcher 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 01.09.2026, limited for 3 years, with the possibility of renewal.

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
• A full-time position (38.5 hours/week); part-time employment may be possible within the framework of certain working time models
• Access to state-of-the-art single-cell and spatial omics technologies
• Strong support for skill development, publications, international visibility, and career progression
• You can find more attractive UKSH benefits here: Benefits (uksh.de)

Your role:

• Contribution to building the first longitudinal single-cell and spatial atlas of human kidney adaptation by integrating single-cell RNA-seq, spatial transcriptomics, and single-cell ATAC-seq with deeply phenotyped clinical cohorts
• Establishment and advancement of the project's experimental and computational framework, with a primary focus on generating high-quality single-cell and spatial omics datasets
• Independent performance and optimization of library preparation for scRNA-seq, snRNA-seq, spatial transcriptomics, and related workflows, alongside contributions to the bioinformatic analysis, integration, and interpretation of multi-omic datasets
• Close collaboration with clinicians and interdisciplinary partners

Your profile:

• Strong experimental background in single-cell and/or spatial omics, including extensive hands-on experience with library preparation, complemented by experience in analyzing single-cell datasets (e.g. Seurat, Scanpy, or related pipelines)
• PhD in molecular biology, genomics, biomedical sciences, or a related life science discipline with substantial experimental research experience
• Demonstrated hands-on experience with library preparation for scRNA-seq, snRNA-seq, and/or spatial transcriptomics
• Experience in establishing, troubleshooting, or optimizing single-cell or spatial transcriptomics workflows (e.g. Chromium, Visium, Xenium, or related platforms)
• Previous experience in analyzing single-cell sequencing datasets using tools such as Seurat, Scanpy, or comparable analysis pipelines

We are looking forward to your application including a motivation letter, CV and contact details of two references. Please submit your application until 15.08.2026, indicating the reference number 28985.