Postdoctoral Fellowships
Tuesday 16th December 2025
Contact Email for the Job Positing qcb_postdocs@beckman.illinois.edu
Organization Science & Technology Center for Quantitative Cell Biology
Location University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Title Postdoctoral Fellowships
URL https://qcb.illinois.edu/postdoctoral-fellowship-program/
Closing date Mar 01, 2026
Description The NSF-funded Science & Technology Center for Quantitative Cell Biology at the University of Illinos Urbana-Champaign offers several postdoctoral fellowship opportunities to support outstanding scientists. These fellowships provide a unique opportunity for selected scholars to engage in a two-year interdisciplinary research fellowship while advancing the research of QCB. All complete applications received by March 1, 2026, midnight anywhere on Earth, will be considered. If positions are still available after that date, complete applications will be accepted and considered on a rolling basis until all positions are filled.
QCB Fellows will receive a starting annual salary of $63,000 (with an inflation increase the second year), along with a benefits package that includes health care, paid vacation, paid sick leave, 12 paid holidays, and relocation expenses (up to $10,000). In addition, fellows will receive a $10,000 per year allowance for research supplies, research travel, and conferences.
Anyone with a PhD earned in the past 10 years or have an expected PhD within six (6) months of application who meets the eligibility criteria is welcome to apply.
Fellowships are open to any U.S. citizen or permanent resident (Green Card holder) and to non-U.S. applicants eligible for a visa (QCB will sponsor visa applications).
QCB seeks to quantitatively describe the physical and chemical processes that define the functional state of a cell. Our goal: To make 4D (space plus time) computer models of whole cells functioning under normal and stressed conditions, working with bacterial, yeast, and mammalian cells. We are working towards our goal through our research themes of computing tools, revolutionary experimental data, and science education and research.
You must have at least two QCB faculty members sponsor your research, a third sponsor who may or may not be a QCB member is optional. A complete list of industry and academic partners can be found on the STC QCB members webpage (qcb.illinois.edu/members/). QCB leadership team members may also be considered for sponsors.
Preference will be given to applicants in the core QCB research areas. Applicants with closely aligned research areas will be considered. We are especially interested in applicants with ML/AI skills. Core QCB research areas are:
1. Whole Cell Modeling: – improve WCMs for bacteria, yeast and eukaryotic cells and connections to established MD (e.g., Martini, Gromacs, NAMD) and analysis programs (e.g., VMD)
2. Subcellular Dynamics using MINFLUX: data acquisition and new data/analysis tools
3. Spatial Chemical Composition using label-free imaging
4. Converting cryo-electron tomograms into images for WCMs and Minecraft
5. Studies of synthetic biology and organelles in selected organisms (e.g., yeast).
6. Development of high-throughput machine learning models and tools for multi-omics and novel microscopy data, spanning methodological development, scalable computation, and scientific inference.
Complete application requirements, including a link to the required application form, may be viewed at: qcb.illinois.edu/postdoctoral-fellowship-program/
If you have any questions about the QCB Postdoctoral Fellowship Program or the application process, please email us: qcb_postdocs@beckman.illinois.edu