A PhD position is available in the laboratory for Cellular Protein Biochemistry at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) Department of Bioscience. Our laboratory aims at understanding how proteins fold, assemble and are scrutinized by the cellular quality control machinery. We are particularly interested in proteins of the secretory pathway - proteins that allow cells to interact with their environment. We use an interdisciplinary approach from protein biochemistry to cell biology to analyze the machinery and mechanisms that monitor cellular protein biogenesis. THE PROJECT: Membrane proteins make up one third of the human proteome. They are critical for any cellular function from movement to immune defense. Membrane proteins are major drug targets and their mutations cause numerous severe human diseases. Despite these key roles in biology and medicine, cellular mechanisms of membrane protein biogenesis and control remain ill-defined. The project will investigate biological functions and molecular mechanisms of endoplasmic reticulum membrane protein chaperones in membrane protein biogenesis and quality control. Key research topics involve mechanistic analyses on chaperones, multi-component molecular chaperone machines and the question how membrane protein chaperones recognize and process clients on a molecular level. The project has the potential to provide exciting new insights in the molecular biology of cells. To achieve this, the project will use state-of-the-art cell biological approaches. Recent examples of our work include: Klose et al., Nat Comm, 2025; Zanotti et al., Science, 2022; Bloemeke et al., EMBO J, 2022. YOUR PROFILE: You should hold a MSc in Biochemistry, Cell Biology or related fields. Experience in mammalian cell culture is required. Specifically, we are looking for candidates with expertise in FACS-/microscopy-based assays, recent genome editing (incl. endogenous tagging) techniques, viral transduction expertise and/or mass spectrometry-based approaches. THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE POSITION: The Technical University of Munich (TUM) is a leading research university in Europe. We are offering excellent working conditions and an international research environment. The salary is in accordance to the Public Sector Collective Agreement on Länder (TV-L E13/65%). The position is available from July 2026 on. Only applications received until April 30th 2026 will be considered.