Call for Starting Principal Investigators and for Cori Pairs, Graz

The Cori Institute of Molecular and Computational Metabolism is a new research institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences dedicated to making human metabolism measurable, predictable and engineerable. We are now recruiting the first generation of scientists who will shape its intellectual identity, research culture and future direction.

We invite applications from outstanding experimental, biomedical, computational, mathematical, engineering and translational scientists for two distinctive routes to scientific independence:

• CORI STARTING PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS
• CORI PAIRS, an innovative shared-leadership model for scientists who want to build something together

This is not simply an opportunity to join an established institute. It is an invitation to help invent one.

The scientific ambition:

Metabolism is the organising logic of life. It governs the transformation, allocation and exchange of matter—from molecules and cells to organs, individuals and ecosystems.

The Cori will establish metabolism as a quantitative and actionable discipline by integrating:

• experimental and clinical biology
• mathematics, computation and artificial intelligence
• metabolic engineering and intervention
• nutrition, environmental exposures and human health

At the center of the institute will be a continuous data–model–intervention cycle: biological measurements inform predictive models; models generate hypotheses and designs; interventions test and reshape metabolic systems. A major long-term ambition is the construction of a quantitative model - a digital metabolic twin - of human metabolism.

We are interested in ambitious research across, but not limited to:

• quantitative and genome-scale metabolic modelling
• dynamic flux, sensing and nonlinear biological systems
• mitochondrial biology and bioenergetics
• metabolic control of cell identity and state
• spatial, single-cell and structural metabolism
• transporters, membranes and inter-organ communication
• metabolic drug discovery and chemical biology
• protein, pathway and cellular engineering
• immunometabolism, aging and neurodegeneration
• organoid and human model systems
• exposome, nutrition, pollutants and environmental metabolism
• automation, high-throughput experimentation and AI-guided discovery

We are especially interested in scientists who connect disciplines that are too often separated: experiment and theory, medicine and engineering, molecules and environments, discovery and application.

More details, and link to application platform:

https://cori-institute.onlyfy.jobs/job/s0xzzv6o

Application deadline: 12 October 2026

Tentative Hearing dates: 22-24 November2026 in Graz, Austria

Anticipated starting date: Flexible, from Q1 2027