Open positions

December 2025

PhD position in Cell physiology

Project Title
Modulation of osmo / mechanosensitive ion channels by lipidic environment.
Role in cancer biology.

Overview
Cellular mechanosensitivity plays a key role in the life of the cell, regulating its migration, its proliferation and its death during physiological phenomena such as development. Alteration of cellular mechanosensitivity is implicated in the development of a number of pathologies, including cancer, notably in glioblastoma on which this project is focused. The general goal of this proposal is to better understand how lipid environment of cell membranes affect mechanosensitive ion channels. To achieve this goal, we will combine expertise in cell morphology and mechanics, lipid membrane biophysics and ion channels activity measurements to
understand how the composition of the lipid bilayer, its asymmetry and its lateral domains affect mechanosensitive channel gating and clustering.

Principal investigator and host laboratory:
Philippe Gailly, Laboratory of cell physiology - Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), University of Louvain (Brussels campus), Belgium. The study will be conducted in collaboration with the teams of Pr. D. Tyteca (DDUV) and PR. J Lorent (LDRI).

Requirements
The candidate should hold a master's degree in Physiology, Biology, Biophysics, Medicine, Chemistry, Biomedical and Health Sciences or related fields. In addition, the candidate should have a keen interest in ion channel biophysics.
The candidate should be fluent in English and/or French.
The application should include a complete CV, a motivation letter explaining why the applicant is best suited for this project, and 2 letters of recommendation.

The project will start in February - September 2026 and run for 4 years. The successful candidate will receive funding for 2 years (renewable) and will apply to competitive PhD fellowships (FRS-FNRS, FRIA).

For more details about the position, please contact Philippe Gailly: philippe.gailly@uclouvain.be

November 2025

Postdoc Position on Systems Neuroscience, Motor Control at UCLouvain, Belgium

Project Title: Multi-disciplinary, multi-lab investigations of the neural bases of human sensorimotor control

Project Description:

Within the framework of a consortium composed of nine principal investigators of UCLouvain (Brussels, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, see the list of members below), our institution has been awarded funding to initiate a research program that combines theoretical, behavioural and electrophysiological approaches to study the neural bases of upper limb motor control, eye-hand coordination, and cognition in healthy and clinical populations. Our consortium uses different techniques and leverages a wide range of paradigms including the study of online control, motor adaptation, eye-hand coordination, decision-making, human-machine interaction, and other state-of-the-art paradigms used in current research in systems neuroscience. Our consortium also includes experts in stimulation or recording techniques (EEG, EMG, TMS, tVNS, (f)MRI etc.). Specifically, a fully integrated exoskeleton with eye-tracker, virtual reality display, EMG for muscular recordings and workstation has been acquired (KINARM-Exoskeleton). The mission of the successful candidate will be twofold:

1. Develop an innovative and original scientific research program on human sensorimotor control supervised by and in collaboration with the spokesperson of the consortium (F. Crevecoeur). The lab has developed a strong expertise in computational modeling of the control of biological movements with applications to neural and behavioural data, including abnormal movements observed in clinical populations. The successful candidate will reinforce and expand this research axis. 
2. Manage the setup and coordinate the experiments from the different members of the consortium, which includes providing assistance in the development of task programs, and participate in the data acquisition and analyses when required. This task will be carried out in collaboration with the technical support unit of the institute. This mission wil offer a wide range of collaboration opportunities.    

Our consortium is looking for a highly motivated candidate able to work in a dynamic, international, and collaborative environment. A fully funded 2-yrs postdoctoral position is offered for international candidates, and efforts to attract individual funding to extend the contract duration will be encouraged (postdoc fellowship). For eligibility, candidates must be in a situation of internal mobility and must not have resided in Belgium for more than 24 months over the last three years. Applicants who are not in this situation are encouraged to contact the consortium to examine their case specficially.     

Host Institution and Supervision

The successful candidate will be appointed with two institutes of UCLouvain:

Institute of Information and Communication Technologies Electronics and Applied Mathematics (ICTEAM, division of Applied Mathematics, https://uclouvain.be/en/research-institutes/icteam , Euler building, 4 avenue Georges Lemaître, 1448 Louvain-la-Neuve)

Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS, division Systems and Cognition https://uclouvain.be/en/research-institutes/ions , 53 avenue Mounier, 1200 Brussels).

The main working site will be in Brussels (Institute of Neuroscience), which is also the campus where the setup is located, but collaboration and working environment will also be provided in Louvain-la-Neuve (ICTEAM). 

List of consortium members

Prof. Yannick Bleyenheuft: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=cYwz4ZUAAAAJ&hl=fr
Prof. Frédéric Crevecoeur: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-EEfvcEAAAAJ&hl=fr&oi=ao
Prof. Benoît Delhaye: https://delhayeben.github.io/
Prof. Julie Duqué: https://www.coactionslab.com/102-top-menu/people/current-members/156-julie-duque
Prof. Robert Hardwick: https://baslaboratory.github.io/
Prof. Philippe Lefèvre: https://perso.uclouvain.be/philippe.lefevre/
Prof. André Mouraux: https://www.nocions.org/
Prof. Renaud Ronsse: https://perso.uclouvain.be/renaud.ronsse/
Prof. Yves Vandermeeren: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=iQjIgsgAAAAJ&hl=fr

Requirements

• PhD in engineering, neuroscience, biomedical sciences, or related fields, highly motivated to perform research in human motor control as continuation of their previous work or as a novel research orientation are both encouraged. Previous focus on computational modeling of behavioural and neural data is an asset.   
• Solid background in programming and data science. Experience in programming with MATLAB/ SIMULINK for the control of the exoskeleton robot is highly desirable, as is experience with python/R for analyses and simulations pipelines. Masters in STEM is an asset but applicants with a Masters in a different discipline with the required skills will be considered. 
• Ability to work in an international, diverse and collaborative laboratory; ability to adapt and willingness to learn (use of equipment, preparation of experiments, data collection, etc.); willingness to interact with patients; ability to manage deadlines and accommodate flexible schedules when stesting sessions require  
• Oral and written communication skills in English, French proficiency is an asset
• Critical thinking, leadership and ability to work sometimes independently, sometimes within a team
• Curiosity and creativity

Applications

Applications should be sent to F. Crevecoeur: frederic.crevecoeur@uclouvain.be as a single PDF document with a letter of motivation, a CV and two letters of recommendation. The tentative application deadline is December 12th, 2025. Interviews of the short-listed candidates will happen in the beginning of the year 2026 with an anticipated start prior to April 2026.

Please send any request for additional information to: frederic.crevecoeur@uclouvain.be.