Johan Neyts

KU Leuven is recruiting a Postdoctoral Researcher in Machine Learning to join the Laboratory of Virology and Antiviral Research at the Rega Institute in Leuven, Belgium. The position is part of the ERC Advanced Grant project ANTIVIRMAP and is carried out in close collaboration with the Bioinformatics laboratory at KU Leuven ESAT-STADIUS and Leuven.AI. The project aims to transform antiviral target discovery by applying advanced AI to high-throughput, high-content phenotypic antiviral screening data. The successful candidate will develop and deploy machine learning models that use cellular imaging, chemical compound structures, viral genomes, and other omics data to identify compounds for in-depth virological studies and to build an “Atlas of Druggable Antiviral Targets.” The role is highly interdisciplinary and combines virology, computational biology, bioinformatics, chemo-informatics, and artificial intelligence. The work includes modeling complex large-scale datasets, extracting phenotypic fingerprints at whole-well and single-cell resolution, clustering compounds, inferring mechanisms of action, integrating toxicity profiles, and supporting an adaptive discovery pipeline with downstream validation data. Applicants should hold a PhD in machine learning, computer science, bioinformatics, or a related field, and should have strong practical experience in ML modeling, data preparation, statistical analysis, and preferably deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow. Experience with imaging data, high-content screening, virology, immunology, or drug discovery is considered an advantage. The position is fully funded and offers a competitive salary in a collaborative, international, and well-equipped research environment at KU Leuven, one of Europe’s leading universities. The contract is initially for one year and may be extended after a positive evaluation. The application deadline is 2026-08-31 , and applications must be submitted via the university job portal.