PhD student Machine Learning for Immunology

Specialty
Infectiology, Intensive care and emergency medicine

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Work time
part-time

Start date
01.04.2026

Employment period
limited

Application deadline
28.02.2026

Deployment location Charité
Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Wedding

Jobcode
6206

Salary group
E13

Working at Charité

Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin is one of Europe's largest and most prestigious university hospitals, combining excellent patient care with pioneering biomedical research. At the intersection of medicine, biology, and data science, Charité develops innovative approaches for the precision medicine of tomorrow.

This position is embedded in the newly established Einstein Center for Early Disease Interception (EC-EDI), a consortium of leading Berlin institutions including Charité, the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Max Delbrück Center, and TU Berlin. The center's mission is to diagnose and intercept diseases at their earliest stages – when only a few cells are affected – using cutting-edge single-cell technologies, advanced AI, and patient-derived disease models.

The successful candidate will work jointly with two research groups:

The Buchauer Lab ("Systems Biology of Infectious Diseases") at Charité's Department of Infectious Diseases develops computational methods to decode immune responses to infections and vaccines, combining single-cell omics data, mathematical modeling, and machine learning.

The Haas Lab ("Systems Hematology, Stem Cells & Precision Medicine") at BIH/Charité/MDC-BIMSB develops and applies multimodal single-cell and spatially resolved technologies to study cancer etiology and immune-cell interactions. The lab has pioneered next-generation precision diagnostic tools based on single-cell multi-omics, recently developing up to 50-plex full-spectrum flow cytometry assays with near single-cell genomics resolution.

Overview of the position

As part of the Einstein Center for Early Disease Interception, we are recruiting a PhD student to develop computational methods enabling rapid, data-driven diagnosis of lung diseases. Our goal is to build a framework that transforms single-cell RNA sequencing data from blood samples into interpretable feature vectors, enabling machine learning-based classification of lung diseases including viral and bacterial infections, autoimmune conditions, and lung cancer. We aim to translate these scRNA-seq-derived signatures to ultra-high-plex flow cytometry for clinical deployment.

Your Tasks:

Developing robust algorithms for batch-corrected integration and summarization of scRNA-seq datasets from >1,000 patients
Engineering human-interpretable features (cell type proportions, gene expression scores) optimized for cross-dataset stability
Training and validating machine learning classifiers for multi-class lung disease diagnosis
Translating scRNA-seq-derived immune signatures to spectral flow cytometry measurements
Collaborating with clinical and experimental partners within the EC-EDI consortium

What we are looking for

Required:

Master's degree in a quantitative discipline: physics, mathematics, computer science, statistics, machine learning, data science, or computational biology/bioinformatics
Strong programming skills (e.g. Python and/or R)
Experience with machine learning methods
Independent, structured, and detail-oriented working style
Proficiency in English

Desirable:

Experience analyzing high-dimensional biomedical data (e.g., omics, single-cell data)
Familiarity with batch correction, dimensionality reduction, or multi-dataset integration methods
Knowledge of software engineering principles (version control, testing, documentation)
Interest in translational research and clinical application

We are looking for a curious, self-driven individual who enjoys interdisciplinary collaboration and is motivated to translate computational advances into clinical practice.

Charité offers you

Involvement in a high-profile, interdisciplinary research consortium (Einstein Center for Early Disease Interception) with direct clinical impact
Joint supervision by two leading single-cell and computational biology labs
Highly professional work environment in motivated and interdisciplinary teams
A future-oriented, varied and demanding position with a high grade of personal responsibility and personal decision making opportunities
Intercultural team events, well structured onboarding phase with kind team members
Extensive offers for inhouse training and professional development as well as further qualifications
Special offers in the areas of shopping, travel and sports
Bike leasing via "JobRad" possible, bike repair workshop with subsidised price conditions for employees available

Information regarding the position

Paygrade XXX according to TVöD VKA-K. Your job grade depends on your job qualification whereas the experience level depends on the number of working years. The yearly gross salary is hereby provided based on a full time position excluding yearly bonus and additional pay. You may find further information here
Working hours can be part-time from XX or full-time with up to 38.5 hours per week. Please indicate how many hours you would like to work per week
The position is limited until XX.XX.XXXX for substitution according to TzBfG § 14 Abs. 1
The position is limited until XX.XX.XXXX, as it is tied to the project duration
30 days of paid vacation per year
The application period ends on:
Position ID:

Application

Everyone is welcome at the Charité, regardless of age, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, disability, ethnic or social background. We are committed to equal opportunities and inclusion.

Apply using our online tool and become part of the Charité.

Apply now

If you have questions, please contact:

Prof. Dr. Lisa Buchauer, lisa.buchauer@charite

More information

Data protection information

The Charité would like to point out that personal data is stored and processed at various locations at the Charité premises (e.g. specialty department, personnel representatives, HR department) as part of and for the purposes of the application process. Furthermore, the data may be transferred or processed within the group and to external bodies (e.g. authorities) to protect legitimate interests. By submitting your application, you agree to our data protection policy and terms of use for application procedures, which you can find here.

Additional information

Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin makes its personnel decisions based on suitability, ability and professional performance. The Charité aims to increase the proportion of women in management positions and therefore strongly encourages women to apply. Women with equivalent qualifications will be given priority within the scope of legal possibilities. Applications from people with a migration background who meet the recruitment requirements are expressly encouraged. Severely disabled applicants with equal qualifications will be given preference. A police good-conduct certificate, in some cases an extended good-conduct certificate, is required at the time of recruitment. Unfortunately, application documents can be returned only if a sufficiently stamped envelope is enclosed. Any incurred travel expenses cannot be reimbursed.