A PhD position is available in the Theoretical Physics Department of the Saarland University in the group of Prof. Heiko Rieger. The project consists in the modeling of long-range force transmission between cells via the contraction of the extracellular matrix, and aims at explaining recently observed searching behaviours of immune cells. The project takes place in a collaboration with the department of engineering of the University of Luxembourg. A part of the project will be dedicated to the modeling of the deformation of collagen networks under the contraction of a cell, which will be mainly supervised by Dr. Lars Beex from the Legato Team of the University of Luxembourg. The other side of the project will consist in the modeling of cell motility within the deformed extracellular matrix, and will be mainly supervised by Dr. Hugues Meyer at Saarland University.

The PhD student will benefit from the very dense scientific community in bio-physics and bio-engineering at Saarland University, in particular due to the Collaborative Research Center SFB 1027 dedicated to the physical modeling of non-equilibrium processes in biological systems.