PhD Position on Nanozyme-based Coating for Antimicrobial Implants

About the role

The PhD project focuses on developing stimuli‑responsive nanozyme coatings for personalized medical implants. It is part of the Marie Skłodowska‑Curie Doctoral Network i2M, offering an interdisciplinary training environment at Empa in St. Gallen with joint affiliation to ETH Zürich.

Key responsibilities

• Design and synthesize nanozymes, optimizing their physicochemical and catalytic properties.
• Develop reproducible strategies to integrate nanozymes onto implant surfaces and test compatibility with various implant architectures.
• Evaluate antimicrobial activity of coated surfaces, assessing bacterial growth inhibition and biofilm prevention.
• Investigate nano‑bio interactions, including cytocompatibility, macrophage activation, cytokine production, and osteointegration parameters.
• Study stability, ageing and biodegradation of low‑dimensional nanozyme coatings in biologically relevant fluids.

Required profile

• Strong motivation to tackle an interdisciplinary research challenge.
• Completed Master’s degree in biomaterials, chemistry, nanotechnology, or biomedical engineering.
• Experience in nanomaterial synthesis and characterization.
• Familiarity with cell culture and in‑vitro assays.
• Experience in catalysis, programming and large‑data analysis is a plus.
• Excellent written and spoken English communication skills.

Required skills

• Nanomaterial synthesis
• Material characterization
• Cell culture techniques
• In‑vitro assay execution
• Catalysis
• Programming
• Large data analysis

What we offer

• Three‑year PhD project funded by Empa and the i2M network.
• Supervision by Dr. Giacomo Reina and joint affiliation with ETH Zürich.
• Inclusive and respectful research culture supporting innovative and sustainable work.