Csiro Postdoctoral Fellowship in Smart Oral Delivery Platforms for Targeted Therapeutics

**Acknowledgement of Country**

CSIRO acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land, sea and waters, of the area that we live and work on across Australia. We acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. View our vision towards reconciliation.

**Role highlights**
- **Pioneer technologies that improve bioactive therapeutic delivery**:

- **Join an innovative team in Livestock & Aquaculture**:

- **Launch your career at CSIRO - Australia’s National Science Agency**

**About CSIRO**

As Australia's national science agency, CSIRO is solving the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. Many of our iconic innovations were once considered impossible until someone, just like you, joined us and took on the challenge.

Visit CSIRO.au for more information.

**The opportunity**

CSIRO Early Research Career (CERC) Postdoctoral Fellowships provide opportunities to scientists and engineers who have completed their doctorate and have less than three years of relevant postdoctoral work experience. These fellowships aim to develop the next generation of future leaders of the innovation system, wherever they pursue their subsequent careers.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and the demand for sustainable production systems are driving urgent global need for smarter, non-antibiotic interventions in animal production. While many next-generation therapeutic strategies, such as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), probiotics, bacteriophages, and immune modulators, show promise, their effectiveness is often limited by challenges such as poor stability during feed processing, low stability in water, rapid degradation in the gastrointestinal tract, or limited bioavailability at target tissues.

**Your high-level duties will include**:

- Conduct literature reviews to assess current oral delivery technologies and identify key gaps in feed-based delivery of labile therapeutics and bioactives.
- Design, develop and optimise novel oral delivery platforms (e.g. nanoencapsulation, matrix encapsulation and carrier systems) to stabilise and protect labile bioactives during feed processing and digestion.
- Evaluate the potential of low-cost, sustainable materials (e.g., biochar and agricultural by-products) as carrier matrices for oral delivery platforms.
- Conduct in vitro testing of compound stability, release kinetics, and bioavailability using simulated feed manufacturing and digestive models.
- Undertake in vivo validation of delivery technologies in model organisms (e.g. Artemia) and production species (e.g. fish, prawns), assessing therapeutic efficacy, pharmacokinetics, host response, and potential cytotoxicity.
- Collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams to integrate food technology, feed formulation, processing, and animal health insights into scalable, industry-ready solutions.
- Communicate research findings effectively through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, industry forums, and technical reports.
- Deliver innovative and impactful research aligned with CSIRO’s vision to reduce antibiotic use, enhance animal health and welfare, and support sustainable high-value protein production.

**Role particulars**

**Location**:Brisbane, QLD

**Salary**: AU$99,990 - AU$109,527 per annum (pro-rata for part-time) + 15.4% superannuation

**Tenure & work schedule**:Specified term of 3 years, Full-time

**Reference**:100800

**Essential criteria**
- A doctorate (or will shortly satisfy the requirements of a PhD). The doctorate must be in a relevant discipline area, such as animal nutrition, feed science, pharmaceutical sciences, materials science, microbiology, biotechnology, or similar. Please note: To be eligible for this role you must have no more than 3 years (full-time equivalent) of relevant research experience.
- Demonstrated expertise in at least one of the following areas: materials science and biomaterials engineering, pharmaceutical and drug delivery sciences, digestive biology and gut physiology.
- Experience in designing and conducting experiments with scientific rigour, including in vitro simulation models and/or in vivo animal trials relevant to oral delivery and digestive biology.

**Desirable criteria**
- Practical experience or strong understanding of encapsulation technologies and carrier matrix development.
- Experience working with antimicrobial peptides, probiotics, bacteriophages, nanoparticles, or similar bioactive compounds.
- Familiarity with multi-omics approaches and/or data integration methods.

For full details about this role, and other criteria, please review the Position Description.

**Not sure if you meet all the criteria?**

**Setting you up for success**

**Life at CSIRO and flexible work arrangements**

We work flexibly at CSIRO, offering a range of options for how, when and where you work. We can discuss flexible work arrangements with you during the recruitment process. CSIRO also offers a range of