Lausanne
Postdoctoral position in nuclear lipid signalling and insulin resistance in skeletal muscle
- 23 October 2026
- 100%
- Lausanne
About the job
Introduction
UNIL is a leading international teaching and research institution, with over 5,000 employees and 17,000 students split between its Dorigny campus, CHUV and Epalinges. As an employer, UNIL encourages excellence, individual recognition and responsibility.
Presentation
We are seeking a Postdoctoral Researcher to lead a project testing whether defined nuclear diacylglycerol (DAG) species causally regulate insulin action in human skeletal muscle. The project combines tagged-anchored photocaged DAGs, released by light at the nuclear envelope of primary human myotubes, with time-resolved functional, transcriptomic and mitochondrial readouts. These cellular findings will be integrated with organelle-resolved DAG lipidomics and RNA-seq in paired skeletal muscle biopsies collected before and after intervention in a study with volunteers.
The position is based in the Aging and Muscle Metabolism laboratory led by Prof. Francesca Amati (Department of Biomedical Sciences, UNIL) and involves close collaboration with partner laboratories specialised in photocaged-lipid chemistry (EPFL, Switzerland) and DAG lipidomics (University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, USA).
Job information
Expected start date in position : January 2027
Contract length : 1 year, renewable if funding available
Activity rate : 100%
Workplace : Département des Sciences biomédicales, Université de Lausanne, Rue du Bugnon 7, CH-1005 Lausanne
Your responsibilities
The postdoctoral researcher will design, conduct and coordinate the project, from tool validation in human muscle cells to integration with human data. Specifically, they will:
• Establish nuclear-envelope Tag anchors in primary human myoblasts by transfection and validate the localisation and light-controlled release of matched sn-1,2 and 1,3 photocaged DAG probes using confocal imaging, DAG biosensors and fraction-resolved lipidomics.
• Quantify insulin-stimulated glycogen synthesis using radiolabelled glucose and insulin signalling after nuclear DAG release, followed by bulk RNA-seq and Seahorse respirometry.
• Perform subcellular fractionation, targeted DAG lipidomics and bulk RNA-seq on paired pre- and post-intervention skeletal muscle biopsies, and integrate these data with glucose-clamp, metabolic-flexibility and body-composition phenotypes using mixed-effects models.
• Analyse transcriptomic and imaging data with reproducible, version-controlled workflows and apply FAIR data-management practices.
• Coordinate the scientific exchanges with the collaborating chemistry and lipidomics laboratories, co-supervise students, and contribute to teaching in the laboratory.
• Disseminate the results through first-author publications, international conferences and public-engagement activities in French and English, and prepare independent funding applications.
Your qualifications
The candidate must hold a PhD in biology, physiology or biomedical sciences, obtained within the last five years, with a doctoral thesis, with a strong experience on the regulation of skeletal muscle metabolism by bioactive lipids, preferably sphingolipids/ceramides or diacylglycerols. A dual academic background combining a degree in biotechnology or bioengineering and a degree in sport or exercise sciences is required.
Required expertise :
• A track record of first-author publications on lipid-induced insulin resistance and skeletal muscle metabolism, including methodological publications.
• Hands-on expertise in primary human skeletal muscle cell culture (myoblasts and myotubes), cell transfection, and radiolabelled metabolic flux assays (glycogen synthesis, glucose uptake and oxidation, fatty-acid oxidation).
• Experience in both animal and human research: in vivo mouse models of metabolic disease (glucose and insulin tolerance tests, body composition, ex vivo insulin sensitivity) and participation in human clinical studies of physical activity or inactivity combining clinical phenotyping with ex vivo skeletal muscle analyses.
• Knowledge of lipid species diversity and subcellular lipid localisation, and experience in interpreting lipidomic data in the context of insulin resistance.
• Bulk RNA-seq analysis and advanced coding in R and Python, including the development of deep-learning pipelines for microscopy image segmentation and quantitative phenotyping of muscle cells, released as open-source code.
• Widefield and confocal fluorescence microscopy and quantitative image analysis.
• Competitive research funding obtained as principal investigator, in addition to doctoral or postdoctoral fellowships.
• Teaching experience in exercise physiology and cell biology at BSc and MSc levels, and co-supervision of MSc or engineering students.
• Fluency in French and English, with the ability to write scientific texts and communicate with lay audiences in both languages.
Personal qualities :
The ideal candidate is independent, rigorous and well organised, able to coordinate international collaborations, and motivated to develop an independent research line on compartment-specific lipid signalling in a collaborative laboratory environment.
What the position offers you
We offer a nice working place in a multicultural, diverse and dynamic academic environment. Opportunities for professional training, a lot of activities and other benefits to discover.
Contact for further information
Prof. Francesca Amati
Département de Sciences biomédicales,
Université de Lausanne
Rue du Bugnon 7
CH-1005 Lausanne
Your application
Deadline : 02.11.2026
Applications are invited in the form of a motivation letter, a curriculum vitae, a brief description of research experience and doctoral thesis, and the names and addresses of three academic references, before November, 2026. Applications must also include a research statement (maximum two pages) describing how the candidate would establish a causal link between specific nuclear diacylglycerol species and insulin action in primary human myotubes using photocaged lipids, and how they would integrate these findings with lipidomic and transcriptomic data from paired human skeletal muscle biopsies. Applications without this statement will not be considered. Please, send your full application in Word or PDF. Only applications through this website will be taken into account.
We thank you for your understanding.
Additional information
UNIL is committed to:
• equality, diversity and inclusion within its community;
• ensuring an open and respectful environment that is conducive to personal development;
• offering working conditions that facilitate work-life balance;
• supporting early career researchers.
unil.ch/equality
unil.ch/families
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