Post-doctoral position and PhD Scholarship: Development and Nanooptics of butterfly nanostructures

We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher and for a PhD student for an interdisciplinary research project addressing butterfly nanostructure development, insect biophotonics and gyroid nanooptics, and ultra- and in-vivo microscopy methods for the investigation of natural nanostructures.

A key goal is the development of a computer-aided light-microscopy technique for in-vivo microscopy of butterfly nanostructure growth.

The positions are based at Murdoch University in Perth. The project comprises experimental components that will be carried out in collaboration with the University of Western Australia (Perth), the University of Salzburg (Austria) and the Marine Biological Laboratory (MA, USA).

Several green butterflies are known to produce chitinous nanostructures, particularly gyroidal nanostructures, that act as photonic crystals which produce their bright reflections. Their optical properties and structure are well understood, yet the formation mechanism of these nanostructures remains speculative.

The project aims to use hyperspectral light-microscopy techniques for the in-vivo imaging of developing butterflies and to develop computational and inverse problem methods to infer from the spatially resolved information how the gyroid nanostructure emerges from the interplay of different intracellular mechanisms.

The project is funded through the Australian Research Council project DP200102593. It is based on our earlier work (Science Advances 2017; MRS Bulletin 2019). The websites of the project collaborators A/Prof Gerd Schroeder-Turk (Murdoch Uni, Perth), A/Prof Peta Clode (UWA, Perth), Prof Bodo Wilts (Salzburg, Austria) and Prof Nipam Patel (MBL, MA, USA) provide information about the research environment and context.

We are looking for candidates who have completed a PhD (for the post-doc position) or an undergraduate degree (for the PhD position) in physics, materials science, nano-engineering, insect biology, cell biology or related degrees. Candidates with experimental, theoretical or computational backgrounds, or combinations thereof, are encouraged to apply. The successful candidates should have existing knowledge or expertise in at least one of the following areas and a strong interest in developing skills in several of the following areas: numerical or experimental methods for characterising nanostructured optical materials, butterfly development, structural biology, nanostructure formation and self-assembly, microscopy methods, computational structure analysis, simulation methods for structure formation.

For the post-doctoral position, applications close 16 March 2022. Please see the job ad at this link and the position description available at this link (or available on the Murdoch website) for details.

For the PhD scholarship, please direct your application directly to A/Prof Gerd Schroeder-Turk who will be the principal supervisor. Please include a cover letter that explains your interest in the project and your relevant expertise and qualifications and a CV. Applications are open until 16 March 2022 or until a suitable candidate is found. Information about PhD research at Murdoch can be found on this Murdoch University website, and the successful candidate needs to fulfill the admission requirements of Murdoch University.

For further information, please contact Gerd Schroeder-Turk (G.Schroeder-Turk@murdoch.edu.au)

We are looking forward to seeing your applications. Thank you for your interest.