Position description :

The newly opened Ricci Lab at Institut Imagine in Paris, one of Europe’s top biological research centers, is seeking two Ph.D. students to work on data-driven dynamical systems modeling of genetic disease. Our lab’s main goal is to build models which predict how biological systems (gene regulatory networks, cells, tissues) evolve in time and to understand how to intervene in these systems to minimize the health impact of complex genetic diseases.

Located in the heart of Paris, our lab welcomes candidates with strong backgrounds in applied mathematics, physics, computer science, or computational biology. The successful candidate will have had coursework and/or previous research experience in some of the following :

• Differential equations or dynamical systems ;

• Control theory or reinforcement learning.

As part of our lab, you will have access to world-class computational and biological resources, and will have the opportunity to collaborate with scientists at affiliated institutions like Institut Pasteur, PR[AI]RIE, Institut Necker, and others.

Resources :

• Compute : 12PB PureStorage (Flash) cluster, 8x NVIDIA DGX H200, 150TB PureStorage FlashBlade S scratch space, and 16–20 CPU nodes ;

• Data : Large, growing in-house omics datasets (scRNA-seq, spatial transcriptomics, pro teomics, ATAC-seq, etc.) ;

• Collaboration : Close integration with top institutions like Institut Pasteur, PR[AI]RIE, Institut Necker, and others ;

• Housing and quality-of-life : Reserved apartments near the Institut and subsidized travel.

Candidate profile :

Required background :

• Training in applied/pure math, computer science, physics, or computational biology ;

• Experience with differential equations, dynamical systems, or control ;

• Familiarity with modern deep learning tools (esp. neural ODEs, neural operators, deep RT, etc) ;

• Proficiency in English.

Desirable skills :

• Experience with biological data, especially omics (e.g. scRNA-seq, spatial transcriptomics) ;

• Experience with foundation models.

Employment details :

• Intended start date : September 1st, 2025 (but this is flexible) ;

• Monthly gross salary : €2454 ;

• Contract : Three years (until completion of thesis) ;

• Degree awarded : Ph.D. in Computational Biologye from Université Paris Cité ;

• Work time : 37.5 hours/week ;

• Benefits : 60% healthcare coverage, 75% transport reimbursement, €100/month in restaurant vouchers (60% covered).

Application :

Please send a CV, contact information for two references, and a brief description of relevant coursework and/or research experience (∼ 1 page).

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis starting June 15th, 2025.