Postdoc in NanoBioPhotonics : Marseille, France

POST-DOCTORAL POSITION, in Marseille (France)

LABORATORY

Founded in 2002, the Fresnel Institute, Marseille (France), has built an international reputation based on its high-level, cutting-edge research activities in all the facets of optics and photonics. The Mosaic group of the Fresnel Institute is an interdisciplinary research team composed of around 25 members including physicists and biologists, working at the interface between nanophotonics and bioimaging (www.fresnel.fr/mosaic).

JOB DESCRIPTION

Context

We have an opening for a postdoctoral position for 2 years and possibly more. The successful candidate will be part of an emerging project carried out at the Fresnel Institute under the supervision of Guillaume Baffou, 2015 bronze medal of the CNRS, with the funding of an ERC Consolidator Grant. Guillaume Baffou’s group has acquired a wide expertise in plasmonics and associated photothermal effects in physics, chemistry and biology [1,2] (www.guillaume.baffou.com).

Research program

The postdoc will carry out experiments on microscale thermophoresis of small living organisms to develop new applications at the interface between optics and biology. The job will mainly consist in conducting optical microscopy experiments involving gold nanoparticles, lasers and advanced microscopy tools, such as quadriwave lateral shearing interferometry ⁹ used as a microscale temperature imaging technique. This technique, pioneered by the Fresnel Institute in 2012, already led to several articles in nanophotonics these last years published in high-impact journals [3-15]. Part of the project will be also dedicated to the fabrication of gold nanoparticles samples. Although the core of the position is experimental, theoretical and numerical activities are envisioned (using Matlab and Comsol).

List of selected publications of the group:

¹ Thermoplasmonics, G. Baffou, Cambridge University Press (2017) ² Laser and Photonics Reviews 7, 171-187 (2013)
³ Journal of Physical Chemistry C 119, 25518–25528 (2015)
⁴ACS Nano 6, 7227–7233 (2012)
⁵ Nature Methods 11, 899-901 (2014)
⁶ Nature Methods 12, 803 (2015)
⁷ACS Nano 5, 5457 (2011)
⁸ Chemical Society Reviews 43, 3898-3907 (2014)
⁹ACS Omega, accepted (2016)
¹⁰ACS Nano 6, 2452–2458 (2012)
¹¹ACS Nano 7, 6478–6488 (2013)
¹² Journal Physical Chemisty C 118, 4890 (2014)
¹³ Nanoscale 6, 8984 – 8989 (2014)
¹⁴ACS Nano 9, 5551-5558 (2015)
¹⁵ Nanoscale 7, 15814-15821 (2015)

A full list of publications can be found here: http://guillaume.baffou.com/publications.php

Requirements

For this project we seek a postdoctoral researcher to handle multiple aspects of the projects related to thermoplasmonics. The candidate should hold a PhD in physics and should be skilled in experimental optics. Previous experience and/or particular interest in biophotonics would be considered an asset.

This project is fundamentally multidisciplinary, as it involves concepts in experimental optics, chemistry, cell biology, fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, numerical simulations. We do not expect the applicant to be skilled in all these fields. We seek however a candidate ready to handle a multidisciplinary research project, willing to learn a lot and to work at the interface between various areas of science.

Applications should be sent to Guillaume Baffou (guillaume.baffou@fresnel.fr) and should include:

• an explanation of the interest of the application in the project.
• a detailed curriculum vitae, including educational background and publication list
• a description of previous research accomplishments
• contact details of at least 2 academic referees

This full-time position will be available in October/November.