One or two Postdoctoral Researchers in computational molecular programming — DNA nanotechnology, molecular networks and DNA data storage

Help us turn DNA into a programming language

DNA is famous as the code of life — but it is also a programmable material, an unexpected bridge between the digital and the living. By choosing the order of its four building blocks, we can make DNA and RNA fold into precise nanoscale machines, carry out logical computations, and store and read out information. We are looking for one or two exceptional, computationally-minded researchers to help us invent what comes next and, if you are inventive enough, to shape your own direction. If you are a physicist, computer scientist, biologist, engineer, chemist or mathematician excited by the idea of programming matter at the molecular scale, we want to hear from you.

Your mission

You will join the Högberg lab, an interdisciplinary group that builds molecular tools from DNA and RNA (www.hogberglab.net). Much of our work lives at the interface where computation meets the molecular world — and that is where you come in. Depending on your interests, you could develop the algorithms, models and software that:

• design and simulate self-assembling DNA nanostructures and molecular machines;
• turn artificial molecular networks into images — reconstructing where molecules sit inside a tissue from sequencing data alone, in effect “imaging without a microscope”;
• encode, store, retrieve and error-correct digital information in DNA, and make molecular data operations such as random access, editing and deletion as robust as conventional storage;
• let molecules sense their environment, make decisions and act — for example DNA devices that respond only when the right conditions are met.

These are directions. We care far more about finding a genuinely creative and inventive scientist than about a perfect match to any one project. The strongest candidates will help shape, and may well end up leading, a direction of their own, perhaps one we have not yet imagined. Nature used DNA for essentially a single purpose over four billion years; we are learning to use it for almost everything else, and there is a great deal left to invent.

Your profile

To be eligible for employment as a postdoctor, a doctoral degree or a foreign degree deemed equivalent to a doctoral degree is required. This eligibility requirement must be fulfilled at the latest at the time of the employment decision. You may apply even if your dissertation is not yet completed but is planned in the near future. It is considered an advantage if you have completed your doctoral degree within the last three years; if there are special reasons, your degree may have been completed earlier.

Beyond the formal requirements, what we are really looking for is a creative, quantitatively strong scientist who likes to invent. Your PhD might be in physics, computer science, computational or systems biology, bioinformatics, mathematics, engineering, chemistry, biotechnology — or something we have not listed. Far more important than any specific background is that you:

• think computationally and enjoy building things — algorithms, models, simulations or software — that solve real scientific problems;
• are comfortable being the person who bridges fields, and are excited rather than intimidated by learning the molecular biology, physics or mathematics you do not yet know;
• have the imagination and drive to help define your own research questions.

Useful — but none of them required — would be any of: strong programming skills (e.g. Python, Julia, C++, R); experience with sequencing (NGS) data, geometry or graph algorithms, statistical inference or machine learning; error-correcting codes or information theory; molecular modelling or structural design; or hands-on molecular biology. Tell us what you are good at: we will modify the projects around the right person

What do we offer?

The Högberg lab is part of the Division of Molecular Systems Bioengineering at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics at Karolinska Institutet (KI). We are a genuinely mixed team — physicists, biologists, chemists, engineers and computational scientists — who share tools, data and ideas across the bench and the keyboard. You will have the freedom to be ambitious, backed by a strong and continuous funding record (including an ERC Advanced Grant alongside other major European and Swedish grants) and by world-class infrastructure for sequencing, imaging and computation, both locally and through SciLifeLab. Our alumni have gone on to found companies and to lead their own research groups; we take mentoring and your next career step seriously, in academia or beyond.

Karolinska Institutet also provides a creative and inspiring environment with wide-ranging expertise and interests. It is one of the world's leading medical universities, conducting successful medical research and holding the largest range of medical education in Sweden. At KI you get to meet researchers working with a wide range of specialisms and methods, giving you ample opportunity to exchange knowledge across the scientific fields within medicine and health. It is the crossover collaborations that have pushed KI to where it is today, at the forefront of global research. As a state university, Karolinska Institutet also entitles you to several benefits through our collective agreement.

Location: Solna

Read mor about: www.hogberglab.net and  Choose to work at KI – Ten reasons why

Application

An employment application must contain the following documents, in English or Swedish:

1. A personal letter in pdf (maximum one page) that includes contact information to at least two references, including brief explanation of the relationship to each listed reference person.
2. A CV pdf-file containing:
   a) A complete CV, including date of the thesis defence, title of the thesis, previous positions, education, distinctions;
   b) A complete list of publications;
   c) A summary of previous/current work (no more than one page).

Optionally — and we encourage it — add a few sentences on the kind of problem you would love to work on, or an idea of your own you would like to pursue with us. It helps us see how you think.

Welcome to apply at the latest September 6, 2026 (but please apply earlier, we will do continuous evaluation).

KI applies individual and differentiated salary setting in accordance with our collective agreements RALS and RALS-T

The application is to be submitted through the Varbi recruitment system.

Want to make a difference? Join us and contribute to better health for all!

1. Björn Högberg, [email protected]

1. Helin Norberg, [email protected]