Postdoc Position in Bioinformatics
Start Date
Date (01.05.2026)
or by arrangement
or by arrangement
Employment Relationship
80-100%, fixed-term
Institution / Workplace
Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences
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For yourself and for society.
Project Description
The University of Bern is the third largest university in Switzerland and was ranked 104 in the 2025 Times World Universities Rankings. With almost 20,000 students, UniBe offers a vibrant environment set within the city centre of Bern, minutes from the train station and very well served by public transport. The position will be hosted within the Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences (DCBP) (https://www.dcbp.unibe.ch/index_eng.html), a highly interdisciplinary department that brings together diverse research groups and houses state-of-the-art facilities, including X-ray, NMR, and advanced mass spectrometry instrumentation. The DCBP places a strong emphasis on sustainability, with catalysis in its various forms serving as a central research theme across many laboratories.The DCBP (Buller Laboratory) is seeking a highly motivated Postdoctoral Researcher in Bioinformatics to join our interdisciplinary research program focused on enzyme discovery and engineering for biocatalysis. Our research integrates genome mining, molecular dynamics, machine learning, structural biology, and experimental enzyme engineering to enable the development and analysis of biocatalysts for sustainable chemical synthesis. The postdoctoral researcher will play a key role in identifying novel enzymes from genomic datasets, guiding protein engineering strategies, and contributing to the development of predictive models for enzyme function and performance.
We offer
- Multi-facetted and interesting range of tasks with further education opportunities
- Progressive employment and social security provisions in accordance with cantonal guidelines
- Central location
Your tasks
Your responsibilities include, but are not limited to,- Execution of innovative research projects in the field chemical biology, enzyme engineering and biocatalysis
- Application and development of novel methods to leverage protein structure data for enzyme engineering
- Implementing and utilizing state-of-the-art machine learning methods to gain insights from enzyme sequence/structure-activity relationships for improved experimental design
- Statistical analysis of enzyme engineering data to validate experimental quality
- Developing and expanding relevant laboratory infrastructure and bioinformatics workflows
- Support in supervision of internships, Bachelor's and Master's theses
Your Profile
You are an independent, curious, creative, and ambitious team player who enjoys interdisciplinary science, mastering new things, and rigorous experimental work. You possess:- PhD in bioinformatics, chemistry, biochemistry, computational biology, protein design, drug design/discovery or Master's degree with 3+ years of experience in a comparable working environment
- Working knowledge of state-of-the-art bioinformatics for protein-ligand complex modeling, small molecule and macromolecular docking as well as the visualization and analysis of protein structures and complexes. Experience in molecular dynamics (MD) or quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) simulations as well as experience with Rosetta/PyRosetta is a plus.
- Strong background in statistics and ability to apply it to experimental design or large dataset analysis.
- Experience in algorithm design and utilizing domain-relevant machine learning frameworks is a plus (e.g. protein LMs (ESM, ProtTrans), PyTorch, scikit-learn)
- Experience in carrying out multiple sequence alignments, phylogenetic reconstruction, sequence similarity networks as well as processing, quality control and statistical analysis of internal and external biological datasets including Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) data is a plus
- Proficiency in programming (preferably Python3). Knowledge of versioning, package managing and containerization (e.g. Git, conda & Docker) and working knowledge with Unix-based systems (e.g. Ubuntu) and on HPC-infrastructures is a plus.
- Fluency in oral and written English
Your Benefits
- Strong research infrastructure and international network
- Collaborative environment and ambitious team
- International reputation
- Individual career support
Working at the University of Bern
The University of Bern not only offers exciting tasks but also an environment that actively promotes development, diversity, and equal opportunities. Discover what makes us stand out as an employer and how you can grow with us.
Application and Contact
We look forward to receiving your application by email using the subject line : Application for Postdoc Position in Bioinformatics / 2026 by March 30th, 2026. It must include a letter of motivation (max 2 pages), a Curriculum Vitae, contact details of two references, and a research summary highlighting your experience. Only complete applications compiled in a single pdf file will be considered.