PhD Researcher - Bone Organoids — ETH Zürich

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PhD Researcher - Bone Organoids 100%, Singapore, fixed-term Drucken The Singapore-ETH Centre was established in 2010 by ETH Zurich - The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and Singapore’s National Research Foundation (NRF), as part of the NRF’s CREATE campus. As ETH Zurich's only research centre outside of Switzerland, the centre has strengthened the research capacity of ETH Zurich to develop sustainable solutions to global challenges in Switzerland, Singapore and the surrounding regions. Set in Asia, in a rapidly urbanising region, the Singapore-ETH Centre aims to provide practical solutions to some of the most pressing challenges on urban sustainability, resilience and health through its programmes: Future Cities Lab Global (FCL Global) and Future Health Technologies (FHT) . The centre serves as an intellectual hub for research, bringing together principal investigators and researchers from diverse disciplines and backgrounds. To promote the exchange of ideas and expertise, our researchers actively collaborate with universities and research institutes and engage with industry and government agencies to translate knowledge to practical solutions to real-world problems. Project background Advanced Patient-derived 3D Bone Organoids for In Vitro Osteoporosis Research Fragility fractures are among the most serious consequences of impaired skeletal health in older adults, often leading to reduced mobility, loss of independence, and long-term disability. Although current standards of care provide important tools for assessing skeletal health and fracture risk, patient-specific biological responses to altered bone remodelling, mechanical loading, and inflammation remain difficult to capture in conventional assessment workflows. This is particularly relevant in osteoporosis and related age-associated bone disorders, where patients can differ substantially in bone remodelling activity, inflammatory status, bone formation capacity, osteoclast activity, and capacity for mechanoadaptation. A better understanding of these differences could support more personalised strategies for osteoporosis research and fracture prevention. Building on the dynamic bone organoid culture platform developed in the Laboratory for Bone Biomechanics at ETH Zurich, this PhD project will contribute to the fracture prevention component by developing advanced patient-derived organoids for invitro osteoporosis research. The doctoral researcher will establish workflows to 3D print patient-derived mesenchymal stromal cells, guide their osteogenic differentiation under dynamic mechanical stimulation, and coculture with peripheral blood mononuclear cells. These models will be used to study osteoporosis-related bone remodelling, immune-bone interactions, donor-specific osteoporotic phenotypes, and mineralisation dynamics, including the influence of age-related comorbidities on bone remodelling. Biological readouts from the organoids will contribute to predictive modelling frameworks for bone remodelling trajectories and fracture risk, supporting the advancement of human-relevant in vitro models for precision musculoskeletal care. Job description The PhD candidate will interact closely with engineers, clinicians, biologists, computational researchers, to generate robust biological datasets for personalised modelling of bone remodelling and fracture prevention. Some key components in the work are:

• Development of patient-derived organoids for in vitro osteoporosis research.
• Integration of peripheral blood mononuclear cells into mature bone organoids to model immune-bone interactions, monocyte-derived osteoclast activity, inflammation, and bone remodelling.
• Investigation of donor-specific differences and mineralisation dynamics associated with age, sex, and relevant comorbidities.
• Characterisation of osteoporosis-related organoid phenotypes using molecular, biochemical, histological, imaging, and microscopy-based techniques. Profile