Postdoc in Custom Optical Microscopy for Microfluidic Screening, University of Cambridge (Knowles Group, Chemistry)

Job Description

The Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry at Cambridge is hiring a postdoc in optical microscopy development to build polarisation, fluorescence and darkfield microscopes for ultra-high-throughput droplet screening, in Professor Knowles’s group (reference MA50992).

At a glance

• Position: Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA), fixed term
• Where: Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, UK
• Group: Professor Knowles
• Pay: £33,002–£46,049 a year
• Duration: 18 months, with a further 18 months if project milestones are met
• Funding: An international consortium funded by the Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA)
• Apply: 20 October 2026

About the optical microscopy postdoc

• Design, assemble and maintain microscopes that combine polarisation-resolved and fluorescence optics
• Integrate these optics with the group’s custom droplet-microfluidic screening platforms, including PhaseScan and cell-free expression
• Use polarised optical, fluorescence and darkfield microscopy to screen libraries of about 10,000 to more than a million samples
• Help map the phase space of ordered inorganic hybrid materials made with de novo designed proteins
• Contribute to supervising PhD and Master’s students and help look after the group’s custom instruments

The project screens for label-free phase separation in hybrid materials that combine inorganic chemistry with de novo designed proteins. Consortium partners bring protein design and high-throughput inorganic synthesis; the Cambridge group brings droplet screening, soft-matter physics, biophysics and phase separation. The ad says microfluidics training will be provided and that the post holder is not expected to arrive with that background: the optics is what matters.

Why this role matters

Screening a million conditions is only useful if the readout can see what is happening in each droplet. This post makes the optics the core of the science, so an instrument builder, often a supporting role elsewhere, gets to shape how a new class of materials is discovered. It suits optical engineers and physicists who like hardware and want to move into materials and soft matter.

What University of Cambridge is looking for

• Proven experience building a bespoke optical microscope from individual components: optical design, sourcing, assembly, alignment and performance characterisation
• A description in the application of at least one instrument you built and your own part in it
• A PhD (or about to obtain one) in optical engineering, physics, chemistry, materials science, mineralogy or a related discipline

Nice to have

• Experience with the synthesis or characterisation of crystalline inorganic materials
• A sound grasp of polarisation optics (for example Jones or Mueller calculus) and hands-on polariser and analyser alignment
• Knowledge of fluorescence optics, including excitation and emission filtering and choosing dichroics and filter sets

Pay and location

The salary range is £33,002 to £46,049 a year. Funds are available for 18 months in the first instance; if project milestone targets are met at 18 months, a further 18 months of funding will be allocated. The University notes that it must make sure every employee is eligible to live and work in the UK, so applicants from outside the UK should read its guidance on visas before accepting an offer.

How to apply

Apply through the official University of Cambridge page. The closing date is 20 October 2026. Apply online with your CV, a covering letter and a publication list, and quote reference MA50992.

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