Introduction
The ability to detect biomarkers with high sensitivity and specificity is fundamental to diagnostics, personalized medicine, and continuous health monitoring. While conventional biosensing platforms have advanced healthcare, they face limitations in dynamic range, multiplexing, real-time detection and continuous monitoring in complex biological matrices. Recent advances in nanophotonics now enable single-molecule sensitivity, ultra-wide dynamic ranges, and improved data interpretation.
The Project at EPFL
The project will focus on the integration of advanced nanophotonic chips with innovative bioassays to implement and validate digital biomarker detection in clinically relevant samples. The work will involve designing novel immunoassays, engineering the chip surfaces with multifunctional probes for efficient and selective biomarker capturing, implementing microarray formats for multiplexed detection and delivering operating devices. The student will leverage real-time binding data for kinetic profiling, adapt bioassays for complex clinical matrices such as serum and plasma, and develop protocols and new strategies for continuous, sub-picomolar monitoring while exploiting cutting-edge nanophotonic chips that are being introduced by our lab for next generation diagnostics.
The Candidate
We are looking for a creative and self-driven candidate who is curious, hardworking, and not afraid of hard problems. You should have a strong background in biomedical engineering, biochemistry, chemistry or related fields and be excited to learn and innovate. Hands-on experience in assay development, surface chemistry and biofunctionalization, protein conjugation, microfluidics, handling of biological samples, or biosensing is highly desirable.
We offer excellent working conditions and state-of-the-art infrastructure in a dynamic, international research environment within one of Europe’s leading research institutions.
Relevant publications from our lab and collaborators:
- Kinetic Profiling in One-Step Digital Immunoassays – JACS (2025)
https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5c17838 - Digital Nanophotonic Biosensing Empowered by Silicon Mie Voids – arXiv (2026)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2604.01182 - Rapid and Digital Detection of Inflammatory Biomarkers – Small (2019)
https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201906108 - Nanoparticle-Enhanced Plasmonic Biosensor for Digital Biomarker Detection – ACS Nano (2018)
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.8b00519 - Dynamic Nanoparticle-on-Film Biosensor for Sub-Picomolar Continuous Monitoring – ChemRxiv (2025)
https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-mdd7v-v2 - Patent: US12174182B2
https://patents.google.com/patent/US12174182B2/en?oq=US12174182B2
Application Procedure
To apply, please complete our Google Form (https://forms.gle/52mTs2ivfcQQXFJ88).
In addition, please note that candidates must formally apply a EPFL doctoral schools in order to admitted as a PhD student in any given lab at EPFL. For this position, we suggest one of the followings and you can indicate our lab as a potential host:
- Biotechnology and Bioengineering (EDBB)
- Microsystems and Microelectronics (EDMI)
For admission criteria:
https://www.epfl.ch/education/admission/admission-2/phd-admission-criteria-and-application/
We look forward to welcoming a new team member passionate about pushing the boundaries of nanophotonic biosensing!